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Mormon  Settlement 

IN  ARIZONA 


A  RECORD  OF  PEACEFUL  CONQUEST 
OF  THE  DESERT 


BY 

JAMES  H.  McCLINTOCK 

ARIZONA  HISTORIAN 


PHOENIX.  ARIZONA 
192 1 


COPYRIGHT  1921 
BY 

JAS.    H.    McCLINTOCK 

ARIZONA  HISTORIAN 


PRINTING  AND  BINDING  BY 

THE  MANUFACTURING  STATIONERS  INC.,  PHOENIX 

ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  PHOENIX  ENGRAVING  COMPANY,  PHOENIX 

MAPS  BY  JAS.  M.  BARNEY,  PHOENIX 

ART  WORK  BY  DAVID  SWING.  PHOENIX 


FOREWORD 


This  publication,  covering  a  field  of  southwestern  in- 
terest hitherto  unworked,  has  had  material  assistance  from 
Governor  Thos.  E.  Campbell,  himself  a  student  of  Arizona 
history,  especially  concerned  in  matters  of  development. 
There  has  been  hearty  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the 
Historian  of  the  Mormon  Church,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
the  immense  resources  of  his  office  have  been  offered  freely 
and  have  been  drawn  upon  often  for  verification  of  data, 
especially  covering  the  earlier  periods.     There  should  be 
personal  mention  of  the  late  A.  H.  Lund,  Church  Historian, 
and  of  his  assistant,  Andrew  Jenson,  and  of  Church  Libra- 
rian A.  Wm.  Lund,  who  have  responded  cheerfully  to  all 
queries  from  the   Author.     There  has  been  appreciated 
interest  in  the  work  by  Heber  J.  Grant,  President  of  the 
Church,  and  by  many  pioneers  and  their  descendants. 
g         The  Mormon  Church  maintains  a  marvelous  record  of 
^  its  Church  history  and  of  its  membership.     The  latter 
^•;  record  is  considered  of  the  largest  value,  carrying  out  the 
^  study  of  family  genealogy  that  attaches  so  closely  to  the 
^  theology  of  the  denomination.     During  the  fall  of  1919, 
S  Andrew  Jenson  of  the  Church  Historian's  office,  started 
^-  checking  and  correcting  the  official  data  covering  Arizona 
^  and  New  Mexico  settlements.     This  involved  a  trip  that 
c3  included  almost  every  village  and  district  of  this  State. 
Mr.  Jenson  was  accompanied  by  LeRoi  C.  Snow,  Secretary 
to  the  Arizona  State  Historian  and  a  historical  student 
whose  heart  and  faithful  effort  have  been  in  the  work.  Many 
corrections  were  made  and  many  additions  were   secured 
at  first  hand,  from  pioneers  of  the  various  settlements. 
At  least  2000  letters  have  had  to  be  written  by  this  office. 
The  data  was  put  into  shape  and  carefully  compiled  by 
Mr.  Snow,  whose  service  has  been  of  the  largest  value. 
As  a  result,  in  the  office  of  the  Arizona  State  Historian 
now  is  an  immense  quantity  of  typewritten   matter  that 

in 

28121.4: 


covers  most  fully  the  personal  features  of  Mormon  settle- 
ment and  development  in  the  Southwest.  This  has  had 
careful  indexing. 

Accumulation  of  data  was  begun  the  last  few  months 
of  the  lifetime  of  Thomas  E.  Farish,  who  had  been  State 
Historian  since  Arizona's  assumption  of  statehood  in  1912. 
Upon  his  regretted  passing,  in  October  of  1919,  the  task  of 
compilation  and  writing  and  of  possible  publication  dropped 
upon  the  shoulders  of  his  successor.  The  latter  has  found 
the  task  one  of  most  interesting  sort  and  hopes  that  the 
resultant  book  contains  matter  of  value  to  the  student  of 
history  who  may  specialize  on  the  Southwest.  By  no 
means  has  the  work  been  compiled  with  desire  to  make  it 
especially  acceptable  to  the  people  of  whom  it  particularly 
treats — save  insomuch  as  it  shall  cover  truthfully  their 
migrations  and  their  work  of  development.  With  inten- 
tion, there  has  been  omitted  reference  to  their  religious 
beliefs  and  to  the  trials  that,  in  the  earlier  days,  attended 
the  attempted  exercise  of  such  beliefs. 

Naturally,  there  has  had  to  be  condensation  of  the  mass 
of  data  collected  by  this  office.  Much  of  biographical  in- 
terest has  had  to  be  omitted.  To  as  large  an  extent  as 
possible,  there  has  been  verification  from  outside  sources. 

Much  of  the  material  presented  now  is  printed  for  the 
first  time.  This  notably  is  true  in  regard  to  the  settlement 
of  the  Muddy,  the  southern  point  of  Nevada,  which  in 
early  political  times  was  a  part  of  Arizona  Territory  and 
hence  comes  within  this  work's  purview.  There  has  been 
inclusion  of  the  march  of  the  Mormon  Battalion  and  of  the 
Calif ornian.  New  Mexican  and  Mexican  settlements,  as 
affecting  the  major  features  of  Arizona's  agricultural 
settlement  and  as  contributing  to  a  more  concrete  grasp  of 
the  idea  that  drove  the  Mormon  pioneers  far  afield  from 
the  relative  comfort  of  their  Church  centers. 

JAS.  H.  McCLINTOCK, 
Arizona  State  Historian. 

Phoenix,  Arizona,  May  31,  1921. 


IV 


SUMMARY  OF  SUBJECTS 


Chapter  One 
WILDERNESS  BREAKERS— Mormon  Colonization  in  the  West,  1; 
Pioneers  in  Agriculture,  2;  First  Farmers  in  Many  States,  4;  The 
Wilderness  Has  Been  Kept  Broken,  6. 

Chapter  Two 
THE  MORMON  BATTALION— Soldiers  Who  Sought  No  Strife,  7; 
California  Was  the  Goal,  8;  Organization  of  the  Battalion,  10; 
Cooke  Succeeds  to  the  Command,  11;  The  March  Through  the 
Southwest,  12;  Capture  of  the  Pueblo  of  Tucson,  13;  Congratula- 
tion on  Its  Achievement,  15;  Mapping  the  Way  Through  Arizona, 
16;  Manufactures  of  the  Arizona  Indians,  18;  Cooke's  Story  of 
the  March,  18;  Tyler^s  Record  of  the  Expedition,  19;  Henry 
Standage's  Personal  Journal,  20;  California  Towns  and  Soldier 
Experiences,  22;  Christopher  Lay  ton's  Soldiering,  24;  Western 
Dash  of  the  Kearny  Dragoons,  25. 

Chapter  Three 
THE  BATTALION'S  MUSTER-OUT— Heading  Eastward  Toward 
"Home,"  27;  With  the  Pueblo  Detachment,  29;  California  Com- 
ments on  the  Battalion,  31;  Leaders  of  the  Battalion,  32;  Passing 
of  the  Battalion  Membership,  34;  A  Memorial  of  Noble  Con- 
ception, 34;  Battahon  Men  Who  Became  Arizonans,  35. 

Chapter  Four 
CALIFORNIA'S  MORMON  PILGRIMS— The  Brooklyn  Party  at 
San  Francisco,  38;  Beginnings  of  a  Great  City,  39;  Brannan's 
Hope  of  Pacific  Empire,  41;  Present  at  the  Discovery  of  Gold,  43; 
Looking  Toward  Southern  California,  44;  Forced  From  the  South- 
land, 45;  How  Sirrine  Saved  the  Gold,  46. 

Chapter  Five 
THE  STATE  OF  DESERET— A  Vast  Intermountain  Commonwealth, 
48;  Boundary  Lines  Established,  49;  Segregation  of  the  Western 
Territories,  50;  Map  of  State  of  Deseret,  51. 


Chapter  Six 
EARLY  ROADS  AND  TRAVELERS— Old  Spanish  Trail  Through 
Utah,  53;  Creation  of  the  Mormon  Road,  54;  Mormon  Settlement 
at  Tubac,  56;  A  Texan  Settlement  of  the  Faith,  57. 

Chapter  Seven 
MISSIONARY  PIONEERING— Hamblin,  "Leatherstocking  of  the 
Southwest,"  59;  Aboriginal  Diversions,  60;  Encounter  with  Federal 
Explorers,  62;  The  Hopi  and  the  Welsh  Legend,  63;  Indians  Await 
Their  Prophets,  65;  Navajo  Killing  of  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Jr.,  66; 
A  Seeking  of  Baptism  for  Gain,  67;  The  First  Tour  Around  the 
Grand  Canyon,  67;  A  Visit  to  the  Hava-Supai  Indians,  69;  Experi- 
ences with  the  Redskins,  70;  KiUing  of  Whitmore  and  Mclntire,  72. 

Chapter  Eight 
HAMBLIN  AMONG  THE  INDIANS— Visiting  the  Paiutes  with 
Powell,  74;  A  Great  Conference  with  the  Navajo,  76;  An  Oflacial 
Record  of  the  Council,  78;  Navajos  to  Keep  South  of  the  River, 
79;  Tuba's  Visit  to  the  White  Men,  80;  The  Sacred  Stone  of  the 
Hopi,  81;  In  the  Land  of  the  Navajo,  82;  Hamblin's  Greatest 
Experience,  84;  The  Old  Scout's  Later  Years,  86. 

Chapter  Nine 
CROSSING  THE  MIGHTY  COLORADO— Early  Use  of  "El  Vado 
de  Los  Padres,"  89;  Ferrying  at  the  Paria  Mouth,  90;  John  D. 
Lee  on  the  Colorado,  91;  Lee's  Canyon  Residence  Was  Brief,  93; 
Crossing  the  Colorado  on  the  Ice,  94;  Crossings  Below  the  Grand 
Canyon,  96;  Settlements  North  of  the  Canyon,  97;  Arizona's  First 
Telegraph  Station,  98;  Arizona's  Northernmost  Village,  99. 

Chapter  Ten 
ARIZONA'S  PIONEER  NORTHWEST— History  of  the  Southern 
Nevada  Point,  101;  Map  of  Pah-ute  County,  103;  Missionaries  of 
the  Desert,  104;  Diplomatic  Dealings  with  the  Redskins,  106; 
Near  Approaches  to  Indian  Warfare,  108;  Utilization  of  the  Colo- 
rado River,  110;  Steamboats  on  the  Shallow  Stream,  111;  Estab- 
lishing a  River  Port,  113. 

Chapter  Eleven 

IN  THE  VIRGIN  AND  MUDDY  VALLEYS— First  Agriculture  in 

Northern  Arizona,  117;  Villages  of  Pioneer  Days,  118;  Brigham 

Young  Makes  Inspection,  120;  Nevada  Assumes  Jurisdiction,  121; 

The  Nevada  Point  Abandoned,  121;  Political  Organization  Within 


vt 


Arizona,  123;  Pah-ute's  Political  Vicissitudes,  124;  Later  Settle- 
ment in  "The  Point,"  126;  Salt  Mountains  of  the  Virgin,  127; 
Peaceful  Frontier  Communities,  128. 

Chapter  Twelve 

THE  UNITED  ORDER— Development  of  a  Communal  System,  130; 
Not  a  General  Church  Movement,  132;  Mormon  Cooperative 
Stores,  133. 

Chapter  Thirteen 

SPREADING  INTO  NORTHERN  ARIZONA— Failure  of  the  First 
Expeditions,  135;  Missionary  Scouts  in  Northeastern  Arizona, 
137;  Foundation  of  Four  Settlements,  138;  Northeastern  Arizona 
Map,  139;  Genesis  of  St.  Joseph,  140;  Struggling  with  a  Treacherous 
River,  141;  Decline  and  Fall  of  Sunset,  142;  Village  Communal 
Organization,  144;  Hospitality  Was  of  Generous  Sort,  145;  Brig- 
ham  City's  Varied  Industries,  145;  Brief  Lives  of  Obed  and  Taylor, 
147. 

Chapter  Fourteen 

TRAVEL,  MISSIONS  AND  INDUSTRIES— Passing  of  the  Boston 
Party,  149;  At  the  Naming  of  Flagstaff,  150;  Southern  Saints 
Brought  Smallpox,   151;  Fort  Moroni,  at  LeRoux  Spring,   152; 

•  Stockaded  Against  the  Indians,  153;  Mormon  Dairy  and  the 
Mount  Trumbull  Mill,  154;  Where  Salt  Was  Secured,  156;  The 
Mission  Post  of  Moen  Copie,  157;  Indians  Who  Knew  Whose  Ox 
Was  Gored,  157;  A  Woolen  Factory  in  the  Wilds,  158;  Lot  Smith 
and  His  End,  159;  Moen  Copie  Reverts  to  the  Indians,  160;  Wood- 
ruff and  Its  Water  Troubles,  161;  Holbrook  Once  Was  Horsehead 
Crossing,  163. 

Chapter  Fifteen 

SETTLEMENT  SPREADS  SOUTHWARD— Snowflake  and  Its  Nam- 
ing, 164;  Joseph  Fish,  Historian,  166;  Taylor,  Second  of  the  Name, 
166;  Shumway's  Historic  Founder,  167;  Showlow  Won  in  a  Game 
of  "Seven-Up,"  168;  Mountain  Communities,  169;  Forest  Dale  on 
the  Reservation,  170;  Tonto  Basin's  Early  Settlement,  173. 

Chapter  Sixteen 
LITTLE  COLORADO  SETTLEMENTS— Genesis  of  St.  Johns,  177; 
Land  Purchased  by  Mormons,  179;  Wild  Celebration  of  St.  John's 
Day,  180;  Disputes  Over  Land  Titles,  181;  Irrigation  Difficulties 
and  Disaster,  182;  Meager  Rations  at  Concho,  183;  Springerville 
and  Eagar,  184;  A  Land  of  Beaver  and  Bear,  185;  Altitudinous 
Agriculture  at  Alpine,  186;  In  Western  New  Mexico,  187;  New 
Mexican  Locations,  188. 

vii 


Chapter  Seventeen 
ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS— Nature  and  Man  Both  Were  Difficult, 
190;  Railroad  Work  Brought  Bread,  191;  Burden  of  a  Railroad 
Land  Grant,  192;  Little  Trouble  with  Indians,  194;  Church  Ad- 
ministrative Features,  195. 

Chapter  Eighteen 

EXTENSION  TOWARD  MEXICO— Dan  W.  Jones'  Great  Exploring 
Trip,  197;  The  Pratt-Stewart-Trejo  Expedition,  199;  Start  of  the 
Lehi  Community,  201;  Plat  of  Lehi,  202;  Transformation  Wrought 
at  Camp  Utah,  205;  Departure  of  the  Merrill  Party,  207;  Lehi's 
Later  Development,  209. 

Chapter  Nineteen 
THE  PLANTING  OF  MESA— Transformation  of  a  Desert  Plain,  211; 
Use  of  a  Prehistoric  Canal,  213;  Moving  Upon  the  Mesa  Townsite, 
215;  An  Irrigation  Clash  That  Did  Not  Come,  216;  Mesa's  Civic 
Administration,  216;  Foundation  of  Alma,  218;  Highways  Into  the 
Mountains,  218;  Hayden's  Ferry,  Latterly  Tempe,  219;  Organiza- 
tion of  the  Maricopa  Stake,  220;  A  Great  Temple  to  Rise  in  Mesa, 
222. 

Chapter  Twenty 
FIRST  FAMILIES  OF  ARIZONA— Pueblo  Dwellers  of  Ancient  Times, 
225;  Map  of  Prehistoric  Canals,  226;  Evidences  of  Well-Developed 
Culture,  227;  Northward  Trend  of  the  Ancient  People,  228;  The 
Great  Reavis  Land  Grant  Fraud,  229. 

Chapter  Twenty-one 
NEAR  THE  MEXICAN  BORDER— Location  on  the  San  Pedro 
River,  232;  Malaria  Overcomes  a  Community,  233;  On  the  Route 
of  the  Mormon  Battalion,  235;  Chronicles  of  a  Quiet  Neighborhood, 
235;  Looking  Toward  Homes  in  Mexico,  236;  Arizona's  First 
Artesian  Well,  238;  Development  of  a  Market  at  Tombstone,  238 

Chapter  Twenty-two 
ON  THE  UPPER  GILA— Ancient  Dwellers  and  Military  Travelers, 
241;  Early  Days  Around  Safford,  242;  Map  of  Southeastern 
Arizona,  243 ;  Mormon  Location  at  Smithville,  244 ;  A  Second  Party 
Locates  at  Graham,  246;  Vicissitudes  of  Pioneering,  248;  Gila 
Community  of  the  Faith,  248;  Considering  the  Lamanites,  250; 
The  Hostile  Chiricahuas,  251;  Murders  by  Indian  Raiders,  253; 
Outlawry  Along  the  Gila,  254;  A  Gray  Highway  of  Danger,  255. 


t;iti 


Chapter  Twenty-three 

CIVIC  AND  CHURCH  FEATURES— Troublesome  River  Conditions, 
257;  Basic  Law  in  a  Mormon  Conunmiity,  258;  Lay  ton,  Soldier 
and  Pioneer,  260;  A  New  Leader  on  the  Gila,  262;  Church  Acad- 
emies of  Learning,  263. 

Chapter  Twenty-four 

MOVEMENT  INTO  MEXICO— Looking  Over  the  Land,  265;  Coloni- 
zation in  Chihuahua,  266;  Prosperity  in  an  Alien  Land,  268; 
Abandonment  of  the  Mountain  Colonies,  269;  Sad  Days  for  the 
Sonora  Colonists,  271;  Congressional  Inquiry,  273;  Repopulation 
of  the  Mexican  Colonies,  274. 

Chapter  Twenty-fioe 

MODERN  DEVELOPMENT— Oases  Have  Grown  in  the  Desert,  275; 
Prosperity  Has  Succeeded  Privation,  276. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 

PLACE  NAMES  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST 281 

CHRONOLOGY 287 

TRAGEDIES  OF  THE  FRONTIER 291 

INDEX 293 

MAP  OF  ARIZONA  MORMON  SETTLEMENT 310 


tx 


THE  ILLUSTRA  TIONS 


"El  Vado,"  Pioneer  Gateway  into  Arizona Frontispiece 

Mormon  Battalion  Officers.. 20 

Battalion  Members  at  Gold  Discovery  in  California 20 

Battalion  Members  who  Returned  to  Arizona 21 

Battalion  Members  who  Returned  to  Arizona 28 

Battalion  Members  who  Returned  to  Arizona 29 

The  Mormon  Battalion  Monument 36 

Old  Spanish  Pueblo  of  Tubac 37 

Jacob  Hamblin,  "Apostle  to  the  Lamanites" „ 60 

The  Church  Presidents _ 61 

Lieutenant  Ives'  Steamboat  on  the  Colorado  in  1858 68 

Ammon  M.  Tenney,  Pioneer  Scout  of  the  Southwest 69 

Early  Missionaries  Among  the  Indians 84 

Moen  Copie,  First  Headquarters  of  Missionaries  to  the  Moquis 85 

Pipe  Springs  or  Windsor  Castle.. 100 

Moccasin  Springs  on  Road  to  the  Paria._ 101 

In  the  Kaibab  Forest,  near  the  Home  of  the  Shivwits  Indians 101 

A  Fredonia  Street  Scene 108 

Walpi,  One  of  the  Hopi  (Moqui)  Villages „ 108 

Warren  M.  Johnson's  House  at  Paria  Ferry 109 

Crossing  of  the  Colorado  at  the  Paria  Ferry 109 

Brigham  Young  and  Party  at  Mouth  of  Virgin  in  1870 116 

Baptism  of  the  Tribe  of  Shivwits  Indians 117 

Founders  of  the  Colorado  River  Ferries.- 132 

Crossing  the  Colorado  River  at  Scanlon's  Ferry 133 

Crossing  the  Little  Colorado  River  with  Ox  Teams.__ 140 

Old  Fort  at  Brigham  City 140 

Woodruff  Dam,  After  One  of  the  Frequent  Washouts 141 

First  Permanent  Dam  at  St.  Joseph._ 141 

Colorado  Ferry  and  Ranch  at  the  Mouth  of  the  Paria  (G.  W.  James)  148 

Lee  Cabm  at  Moen  Avi  (Photo,  by  Dr.  Geo.  Wharton  James)._ 149 

Moen  Copie  Woolen  Mill 149 

Grand  Falls  on  the  Little  Colorado 156 

Old  Fort  Moroni  with  its  Stockade 157 


Fort  Moroni  in  Later  Years 157 

Erastus  Snow,  Who  Had  Charge  of  Arizona  Colonization 164 

Anthony  W.  Ivins 165 

Joseph  W.  McMurrin 165 

Joseph  Fish,  an  Arizona  Historian 172 

Joseph  H.  Richards  of  St.  Joseph 172 

St.  Joseph  Pioneers  and  Historian  Andrew  Jenson 173 

Shumway  and  the  Old  Mill  on  Silver  Creek 173 

First  Mormon  School,  Church  and  Bowery  at  St.  Johns.. 180 

David  K.  Udall  and  His  First  Residence  at  St.  Johns..._ 180 

St.  Johns  in  1887 181 

Stake  Academy  at  St.  Johns 181 

Founders  of  Northern  Arizona  Settlements.^ 188 

Group  of  Pioneers 189 

Presidents  of  Five  Arizona  Stakes 196 

Old  Academy  at  Snowflake 197 

New  Academy  at  Snowflake.__ 197 

The  Desolate  Road  to  the  Colorado  Ferry 204 

Leaders  of  Unsuccessful  Expeditions 204 

First  Party  to  Southern  Arizona  and  Mexico 205 

Second  Party  to  Southern  Arizona  and  Mexico 205 

Original  Lehi  Locators 212 

Founders  of  Mesa._„ 213 

Maricopa  Stake  Presidents.. 220 

Maricopa  Delegation  at  Pinetop  Conference.-, 221 

The  Arizona  Temple  at  Mesa 228 

Jonathan  Heaton  and  His  Fifteen  Sons 229 

Northern  Arizona  Pioneers.- 229 

Teeples  House,  First  in  Pima 244 

First  Schoolhouse  at  Safford 245 

Gila  Normal  College  at  Thatcher _ 245 

Gila  Valley  Pioneers 260 

Pioneer  Women  of  the  Gila  Valley 261 

Killed  by  Indians 292 

Killed  by  Outlaws. 293 

SPECIAL  MAPS 

State  of  Deseret 51 

Pah-ute  County,  Showing  the  Muddy  Settlements 103 

Northeastern  Arizona,  Showing  Little  Colorado  Settlements.- 139 

Lehi,  Plan  of  Settlement.- 202 

Ancient  Canals  of  Salt  River  Valley.- 226 

Southeastern  Arizona.— 243 

Arizona  Mormon  Settlement  and  Early  Roads.- 309 


Xt 


Chapter  One 


[lh^m^05  ^r^k^rsi 


Mormon  Colonization  in  the  West 

The  Author  would  ask  earUest  appreciation  by  the 
reader  that  this  work  on  "Mormon  Settlement  in  Arizona" 
has  been  written  by  one  entirely  outside  that  faith  and 
that,  in  no  way,  has  it  to  do  with  the  doctrines  of  a  sect  set 
aside  as  distinct  and  peculiar  to  itself,  though  it  claims  fel- 
lowship with  any  denomination  that  follows  the  teachings 
of  the  Nazarene.  The  very  word  "Mormon"  in  publica- 
tions of  that  denomination  usually  is  put  within  quotation 
marks,  accepted  only  as  a  nickname  for  the  preferred  and 
lengthier  title  of  "Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day 
Saints."  Outside  the  Church,  the  word,  at  least  till  within 
a  decade  or  so,  has  been  one  that  has  formed  the  founda- 
tion for  much  of  denunciation.  There  was  somewhat  of 
pathos  in  the  remark  to  the  Author  by  a  high  Mormon 
official,  "There  never  has  been  middle  ground  in  literature 
that  affected  the  Mormons — it  either  has  been  written 
against  us  or  for  us."  From  a  rehgious  standpoint,  this 
work  is  on  neutral  ground.  But,  from  the  standpoint  of 
western  colonization  and  consequent  benefit  to  the  Nation, 
the  Author  trusts  the  reader  will  join  with  him  in  apprecia- 
tion of  the  wonderful  work  that  has  been  done  by  these 
people.  It  is  this  field  especially  that  has  been  covered  in 
this  book. 

Occasionally  it  will  be  found  that  the  colonizers  have 
been  referred  to  as  "Saints."  It  is  a  shortening  of  the 
preferred  title,  showing  a  lofty  moral  aspiration,  at  least. 
It  would  be  hard  to  imagine  wickedness  proceeding  from 
such  a  designation,  though  the   Church  itself  assuredly 


would  be  the  first  to  disclaim  assumption  of  full  saintliness 
within  its  great  membership.  Still,  there  might  be  testi- 
mony from  the  writer  that  he  has  lived  near  the  Mormons 
of  Arizona  for  more  than  forty  years  and  in  that  time  has 
found  them  law-abiding  and  industrious,  generally  of  sturdy 
English,  Scotch,  Scandinavian  or  Yankee  stock  wherein 
such  qualities  naturally  run  with  _the  blood.  If  there  be 
with  such  people  the  further  influence  of  a  religion  that 
binds  in  a  union  of  faith  and  in  works  of  the  most  practical 
sort,  surely  there  must  be  accomplishment  of  material  and 
important  things. 

Pioneers  in  Agriculture 

In  general,  the  Mormon  (and  the  word  will  be  used 
without  quotation  marks)  always  has  been  agricultural. 
The  Church  itself  appears  to  have  a  foundation  idea  that 
its  membership  shall  live  by,  upon  and  through  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  soil.  It  will  be  found  in  this  work  that  Church 
influence  served  to  turn  men  from  even  the  gold  fields  of 
California  to  the  privations  of  pioneer  Utah.  It  also  will 
be  found  that  the  Church,  looking  for  extension  and  yet 
careful  of  the  interests  of  its  membership,  directed  the  ex- 
peditions that  penetrated  every  part  of  the  Southwest. 

There  was  a  pioneer  Mormon  period  in  Arizona,  that 
might  as  well  be  called  the  missionary  period.  Then  came 
the  prairie  schooners  that  bore,  from  Utah,  men  and  women 
to  people  and  redeem  the  arid  southland  valleys.  Most  of 
this  colonization  was  in  Arizona,  where  the  field  was  com- 
paratively open.  In  California  there  had  been  rehgious 
persecution  and  in  New  Mexico  the  valleys  very  generally 
had  been  occupied  for  centuries  by  agricultural  Indians  and 
by  native  peoples  speaking  an  alien  tongue.  There  was 
extension  over  into  northern  Mexico,  with  consequent  travail 
when  impotent  governments  crumbled.  But  in  Arizona,  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Little  Colorado,  the  Salt,  the  Gila  and 
the  San  Pedro  and  of  their  tributaries  and  at  points  where 
the  white  man  theretofore  had  failed,  if  he  had  reached 


them  at  all,  the  Mormons  set  their  stakes  and,  with  united 
effort,  soon  cleared  the  land,  dug  ditches  and  placed  dams 
in  unruly  streams,  all  to  the  end  that  farms  should  smile 
where  the  desert  had  reigned.  It  all  needed  imagination 
and  vision,  something  that,  very  properly,  may  be  called 
faith.  Sometimes  there  was  failure.  Occasionally  the 
brethren  failed  to  live  in  unity.  They  were  human.  But, 
at  all  times,  back  of  them  were  the  serenity  and  judgment 
and  resources  of  the  Church  and  with  them  went  the  en- 
gendered confidence  that  all  would  be  well,  whatever  befell 
of  finite  sort.  It  has  been  said  that  faith  removes  moun- 
tains. The  faith  that  came  with  these  pioneers  was  well 
backed  and  carried  with  it  brawn  and  industry. 

"Mormon  Settlement  in  Arizona*'  should  not  carry  the 
idea  that  Arizona  was  settled  wholly  by  Mormons.  Before 
them  came  the  Spaniards,  who  went  north  of  the  Gila  only 
as  explorers  and  missionaries  and  whose  agriculture  south 
of  that  stream  assuredly  was  not  of  enduring  value.  There 
were  trappers,  prospectors,  miners,  cattlemen  and  farmers 
long  before  the  wagons  from  Utah  first  rolled  southward, 
but  the  fact  that  Arizona's  agricultural  development  owes 
enormously  to  Mormon  effort  can  be  appreciated  in  con- 
sidering the  establishment  and  development  of  the  fertile 
areas  of  Mesa,  Lehi,  the  Safford-Thatcher-Franklin  district, 
St.  David  on  the  San  Pedro,  and  the  many  settlements  of 
northeastern  Arizona,  with  St.  Johns  and  Snowflake  as 
their  headquarters. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Mormon  immigrants  made 
even  a  greater  number  of  agricultural  settlements  in  Arizona 
than  did  the  numerically  preponderating  other  peoples. 
However,  the  explanation  is  a  simple  one:  The  average 
immigrant,  coming  without  organization,  for  himself  alone, 
naturally  gravitated  to  the  mines — indeed,  was  brought  to 
the  Southwest  by  the  mines.  There  was  little  to  attract 
him  in  the  desert  plains  through  which  ran  intermittent 
stream  flows,  and  he  lacked  the  vision  that  showed   the 


desert  developed  into  the  oasis.  The  Mormon,  however, 
came  usually  from  an  agricultural  environment.  Rarely 
was  he  a  miner. 

Of  later  years  there  has  been  much  community  com- 
mingling of  the  Mormon  and  the  non-Mormon.  There  even 
has  been  a  second  immigration  from  Utah,  usually  of 
people  of  means.  The  day  has  passed  for  the  ox-bowed 
wagon  and  for  settlements  out  in  the  wilderness.  There 
has  been  left  no  wilderness  in  which  to  work  magic  through 
labor.  But  the  Mormon  influence  still  is  strong  in  agri- 
cultural Arizona  and  the  high  degree  of  development  of 
many  of  her  localities  is  based  upon  the  pioneer  settlement 
and  work  that  are  dealt  with  in  the  succeeding  pages. 

First  Farmers  in  Many  States 

It  is  a  fact  little  appreciated  that  the  Mormons  have 
been  first  in  agricultural  colonization  of  nearly  all  the  inter- 
mountain  States  of  today.  This  may  have  been  providen- 
tial, though  the  western  movement  of  the  Church  happened 
in  a  time  of  the  greatest  shifting  of  population  ever  known 
on  the  continent.  It  preceded  by  about  a  year  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California,  and  gold,  of  course,  was  the  lodestone 
that  drew  the  greatest  of  west-bound  migrations.  The  Mor- 
mons, however,  were  first.  Not  drawn  by  visions  of  wealth, 
unless  they  looked  forward  to  celestial  mansions,  they 
sought,  particularly,  valleys  wherein  peace  and  plenty  could 
be  secured  by  labor.  Nearly  all  were  farmers  and  it  was 
from  the  earth  they  designed  drawing  their  subsistence 
and  enough  wherewith  to  establish  homes. 

Of  course,  the  greatest  of  foundations  was  that  at  Salt 
Lake,  July  24,  1847,  when  Brigham  Young  led  his  Pioneers 
down  from  the  canyons  and  declared  the  land  good.  But 
there  were  earlier  settlements. 

First  of  the  faith  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  continent 
was  the  settlement  at  San  Francisco  by  Mormons  from  the 
ship  Brooklyn.    They  landed  July  31,  1846,  to  found  the 


first  English  speaking  community  of  the  Golden  State, 
theretofore  Mexican.  These  Mormons  estabhshed  the  farm-   k^^, 
ing  community  of  New  Helvetia,  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  ^ 

the  same  fall,  while  men  from  the  Mormon  Battalion, 
January  24,  1848,  participated  in  the  discovery  of  gold  at 
Sutter's  Fort.  Mormons  also  were  pioneers  in  Southern 
California,  where,  in  1851,  several  hundred  families  of  the 
faith  settled  at  San  Bernardino. 

The  first  Anglo-Saxon  settlement  within  the  boundaries 
of  the  present  State  of  Colorado  was  at  Pueblo,  November 
15,  1846,  by  Capt.  James  Brown  and  about  150  Mormon 
men  and  women  who  had  been  sent  back  from  New  Mexico, 
into  which  they  had  gone,  a  part  of  the  Mormon  Battalion 
that  marched  on  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  first  American  settlement  in  Nevada  was  one  of 
Mormons  in  the  Carson  Valley,  at  Genoa,  in  1851. 

In  Wyoming,  as  early  as  1854,  was  a  Mormon  settle- 
ment at  Green  River,  near  Fort  Bridger,  known  as  Fort 
Supply. 

In  Idaho,  too,  preeminence  is  claimed  by  virtue  of  a 
Mormon  settlement  at  Fort  Lemhi,  on  the  Salmon  River, 
in  1855,  and  at  Franklin,  in  Cache  Valley,  in  1860. 

The  earliest  Spanish  settlement  of  Arizona,  within  its 
present  political  boundaries,  was  in  the  Santa  Cruz  Valley 
not  far  from  the  southern  border.  There  was  a  large  ranch 
at  Calabasas  at  a  very  early  date,  and  at  that  point  Cus- 
todian Frank  Pinkley  of  the  Tumacacori  mission  ruins 
lately  discovered  the  remains  of  a  sizable  church.  A  priest 
had  station  at  San  Xavier  in  1701.  Tubac  as  a  presidio  dates 
from  1752,  Tumacacori  from  1754  and  Tucson  from  1776. 
These,  however,  were  Spanish  settlements,  missions  or 
presidios.  In  the  north,  Prescott  was  founded  in  May, 
1864,  and  the  Verde  Valley  was  peopled  in  February,  1865. 
Earlier  still  were  Fort  Mohave,  reestabhshed  by  soldiers 
of  the  California  Column  in  1863,  and  Fort  Defiance,  on 
the  eastern  border  line,  estabhshed  in  1849.      A  temporary 


Mormon  settlement  at  Tubac  in  1851,  is  elsewhere  de- 
scribed. But  in  honorable  place  in  point  of  seniority 
are  to  be  noted  the  Mormon  settlements  on  the  Muddy 
and  the  Virgin,  particularly,  in  the  very  northwestern  corner 
of  the  present  Arizona  and  farther  westward  in  the  southern- 
most point  of  Nevada,  once  a  part  of  Arizona.  In  this 
northwestern  Arizona  undoubtedly  was  the  first  permanent 
Anglo-Saxon  agricultural  settlement  in  Arizona,  that  at 
Beaver  Dams,  now  known  as  Littlefield,  on  the  Virgin, 
founded  at  least  as  early  as  the  fall  of  1864. 

The  Wilderness  Has  Been  Kept  Broken 

Of  the  permanence  and  quality  of  the  Mormon  pioneer- 
ing, strong  testimony  is  offered  by  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh  in  his 
"Breaking  the  Wilderness:" 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  Mormons  were  wilderness 
breakers  of  high  quality.  They  not  only  broke  it,  but  they  kept  it 
broken;  and  instead  of  the  gin  mill  and  the  gambling  hell,  as  comer- 
stones  of  their  progress  and  as  examples  to  the  natives  of  the  white 
men's  superiority,  they  planted  orchards,  gardens,  farms,  schoolhouses 
and  peaceful  homes.  There  is  today  no  part  of  the  United  States 
where  human  life  is  safer  than  in  the  land  of  the  Mormons;  no  place 
where  there  is  less  lawlessness.  A  people  who  have  accomplished 
so  much  that  is  good,  who  have  endured  danger,  privation  and  suf- 
fering, who  have  withstood  the  obloquy  of  more  powerful  sects,  have 
in  them  much  thatj^is  commendable;  they  deserve  more  than  abuse 
they  deserve  admiration. 


Chapter  Two 


Soldiers  Who  Sought  No  Strife 

The  march  of  the  Mormon  Battahon  to  the  Pacific  sea 
in  1846-7  created  one  of  the  most  picturesque  features  of 
American  history  and  one  without  parallel  in  American 
military  annals.  There  was  incidental  creation,  through 
Arizona,  of  the  first  southwestern  wagon  road.  Fully  as 
remarkable  as  its  travel  was  the  constitution  of  the  Bat- 
tahon itself.  It  was  assembled  hastily  for  an  emergency 
that  had  to  do  with  the  seizure  of  California  from  Mexico. 
Save  for  a  few  officers  detailed  from  the  regular  army,  not 
a  man  had  been  a  soldier,  unless  in  the  rude  train-bands 
that  held  annual  muster  in  that  stage  of  the  Nation's 
progress,  however  skilled  certain  members  might  have 
been  in  the  handling  of  hunting  arms. 

Organization  was  a  matter  of  only  a  few  days  before 
the  column  had  been  put  into  motion  toward  the  west. 
There  was  no  drill  worthy  of  the  name.  There  was  establish- 
ment of  companies  simply  as  administrative  units.  Dis- 
cipline seems  to  have  been  very  lax  indeed,  even  if  there 
were  periods  in  which  severity  of  undue  sort  appears  to 
have  been  made  manifest  by  the  superior  officers. 

Still  more  remarkable,  the  rank  and  file  glorified  in 
being  men  of  peace,  to  whom  strife  was  abhorrent.  They 
were  recruited  from  a  people  who  had  been  driven  from  a 
home  of  prosperity  and  who  at  the  time  were  encamped  in 
most  temporary  fashion,  awaiting  the  word  of  their  leaders 
to  pass  on  to  the  promised  western  Land  of  Canaan.  For 
a  part  of  the  way  there  went  with  the  Battalion  parts  of 
families,  surely  a  very  unmilitary  proceeding,  but  most  of 


the  soldiers  for  the  time  severed  all  connection  with  their 
people,  whom  they  were  to  join  later  on  the  shore  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake  of  which  they  knew  so  little.  They  were 
illy  clad  and  shod,  were  armed  mainly  with  muskets  of  type 
even  then  obsolete,  were  given  wagon  transportation  from 
the  odds  and  ends  of  a  military  post  equipment  and  thus 
were  set  forth  upon  their  great  adventure. 

Formation  of  the  Mormon  Battalion  came  logically  as 
a  part  of  the  determination  of  the  Mormon  people  to  seek 
a  new  home  in  the  West,  for  in  1846  there  had  come  con- 
clusion that  no  permanent  peace  could  be  known  in  Illinois 
or  in  any  of  the  nearby  States,  owing  to  religious  prejudice. 
The  High  Council  had  made  announcement  of  the  intention 
of  the  people  to  move  to  some  good  valleys  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  President  Jesse  C.  Little  of  the  newly  created 
Eastern  States  Mission  of  the  Church,  was  instructed  to 
visit  Washington  and  to  secure,  if  possible,  governmental 
assistance  in  the  western  migration.  One  suggestion  was 
that  the  Mormons  be  sent  to  construct  a  number  of  stock- 
ade posts  along  the  overland  route.  But,  finally,  after 
President  Little  had  had  several  conferences  with  President 
Polk,  there  came  decision  to  accept  enlistment  of  a  Mormon 
military  command,  for  dispatch  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  The 
final  orders  cut  down  the  enhstment  from  a  proffered  2000 
to  500  individuals. 

California  Was  the  Goal 

There  should  be  understanding  at  the  outset  that  the 
Mormon  Battalion  was  a  part  of  the  volunteer  soldiery  of 
the  Mexican  War.  At  the  time  there  was  a  regular  army  of 
very  small  proportions,  and  that  was  being  held  for  the 
descent  upon  the  City  of  Mexico,  via  Vera  Cruz,  under 
General  Scott.  General  Taylor  had  volunteers  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  northern  army  in  Mexico.  Doniphan  in 
his  expedition  into  Chihuahua  mainly  had  Missouri  volun- 
teers. 

In   California   was  looming  a  very  serious  situation. 

8 


Only  sailors  were  available  to  help  American  settlers  in 
seizing  and  holding  the  coast  against  a  very  active  and 
exceptionally  well-provided  and  intelligent  Mexican,  or 
Spanish-speaking,  opposition.  Fremont  and  his  "surveying 
party"  hardly  had  improved  the  situation  in  bringing  dis- 
sension into  the  American  armed  forces.  General  Kearny 
had  been  dispatched  with  all  speed  from  Fort  Leavenworth 
westward,  with  a  small  force  of  dragoons,  later  narrowly 
escaping  disaster  as  he  approached  San  Diego.  There  was 
necessity  for  a  supporting  party  for  Kearny  and  for  pro- 
vision of  troops  to  enforce  an  American  peace  in  California. 
To  fill  this  breach,  resort  was  had  to  the  harassed  and  home- 
less Saints. 

The  route  was  taken  along  the  Santa  Fe  trail,  which 
then,  in  1846,  was  in  use  mainly  by  buffalo  hunters  and 
western  trading  and  trapping  parties.  It  was  long  before 
the  western  migration  of  farm  seekers,  and  the  lure  of  gold 
yet  was  distant.  There  were  unsatisfactory  conditions  of 
administration  and  travel,  as  narrated  by  historians  of  the 
command,  mainly  enlisted  men,  naturally  with  the  view- 
point of  the  private  soldier.  But  it  happens  that  the  details 
agree,  in  general,  and  indicate  that  the  trip  throughout  was 
one  of  hardship  and  of  denial.  There  came  the  loss  of  a 
respected  commander  and  the  temporary  accession  of  an 
impoUtic  leader.  Especially  there  was  complaint  over  the 
mistaken  zeal  of  an  army  surgeon,  who  insisted  upon  the 
administration  of  calomel  and  who  denied  the  men  resort 
to  their  own  simple  remedies,  reinforced  by  expression  of 
what  must  have  been  a  very  sustaining  sort  of  faith. 

A  more  popular,  though  strict,  commander  was  found  in 
Santa  Fe,  whence  the  BattaUon  was  pushed  forward  again 
within  five  days,  following  Kearny  to  the  Coast.  The 
Rockies  were  passed  through  a  trackless  wilderness,  yet  on 
better  lines  than  had  been  found  by  Kearny's  horsemen. 
Arizona,  as  now  known,  was  entered  not  far  from  the 
present  city  of  Douglas.    There  were  fights  with  wild  bulls 


in  the  San  Pedro  valley,  there  was  a  bloodless  victory  in 
the  taking  of  the  ancient  pueblo  of  Tucson,  there  was 
travail  in  the  passage  of  the  desert  to  the  Gila  and  a  brief 
respite  in  the  plenty  of  the  Pima  villages  before  the  weary 
way  was  taken  down  the  Gila  to  the  Colorado  and  thence 
across  the  sands  of  the  Colorado  desert,  in  California,  to 
the  shores  of  the  western  ocean. 

All  this  was  done  on  foot.  The  start  from  Leavenworth 
was  in  the  heat  of  summer,  August  12,  1846.  Two  months 
later  Santa  Fe  was  entered,  Tucson  was  passed  in  December 
and  on  January  27,  1847,  "was  caught  the  first  and  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  great  ocean;  and  by  rare  chance  it 
was  so  calm  that  it  shone  like  a  great  mirror." 

In  detail,  the  following  description  of  the  march,  as  far 
as  Los  Angeles,  mainly  is  from  the  McClintock  History  of 
Arizona : 

Organization  of  the  Battalion 

Col.  Stephen  W.  Kearny,  commanding  the  First  Dra- 
goon regiment,  then  stationed  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  selected 
Capt.  James  Allen  of  the  same  regiment  to  be  commander 
of  the  new  organization,  with  volunteer  rank  as  lieutenant- 
colonel.  The  orders  read:  "You  will  have  the  Mormons 
distinctly  understand  that  I  wish  to  have  them  as  volun- 
teers for  twelve  months;  that  they  will  be  marched  to 
California,  receive  pay  and  allowances  during  the  above 
time,  and  at  its  expiration  they  will  be  discharged,  and 
allowed  to  retain  as  their  private  property  the  guns  and 
accouterments  furnished  them  at  this  post." 

Captain  Allen  proceeded  at  once  to  Mount  Pisgah,  a 
Mormon  camp  130  miles  east  of  Council  Bluffs,  where,  on 
June  26,  1846,  he  issued  a  recruiting  circular  in  which  was 
stated:  "This  gives  an  opportunity  of  sending  a  portion  of 
your  young  and  intelligent  men  to  the  ultimate  destination 
of  your  whole  people  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States, 
and  this  advance  party  can  thus  pave  the  way  and  look  out 
the  land  for  their  brethren  to  come  after  them." 

10 


July  16,  1846,  five  companies  were  mustered  into  the 
service  of  the  United  States  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa  Terri- 
tory. The  company  ofl&cers  had  been  elected  by  the  re- 
cruits, including  Captains  Jefferson  Hunt,  Jesse  B.  Hunter, 
James  Brown  and  Nelson  Higgins.  George  P.  Dykes  was 
appointed  adjutant  and  WilUam  Mclntyre  assistant  sur- 
geon. 

The  march  westward  was  started  July  20,  the  route 
through  St.  Joseph  and  Leavenworth,  where  were  found  a 
number  of  companies  of  Missouri  volunteers.  Colonel  Allen, 
who  had  secured  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his  soldiers, 
had  to  be  left,  sick,  at  Leavenworth,  where  he  died  August  23. 

At  Leavenworth  full  equipment  was  secured,  including 
flintlock  muskets,  with  a  few  caplock  guns  for  sharpshoot- 
ing  and  hunting.  Pay  also  was  drawn,  the  paymaster  ex- 
pressing surprise  over  the  fact  that  every  man  could  write 
his  own  name,  "something  that  only  one  in  three  of  the 
Missouri  volunteers  could  accomplish."  August  12  and 
14  two  divisions  of  the  Battalion  left  Leavenworth. 

Cooke  Succeeds  to  the  Command 

The  place  of  Colonel  Allen  was  taken,  provisionally,  by 
First  Lieut.  A.  J.  Smith  of  the  First  Dragoons,  who  proved 
unpopular,  animus  probably  starting  through  his  military 
severity  and  the  desire  of  the  Battalion  that  Captain  Hunt 
should  succeed  to  the  command.  The  first  division  arrived 
at  Santa  Fe  October  9,  and  was  received  by  Colonel  Doni- 
phan, commander  of  the  post,  with  a  salute  of  100  guns. 
Colonel  Doniphan  was  an  old  friend.  He  had  been  a 
lawyer  and  militia  commander  in  Clay  County,  Missouri, 
when  Joseph  Smith  was  tried  by  court  martial  at  Far  West 
in  1838  and  had  succeeded  in  changing  a  judgment  of 
death  passed  by  the  mob.  On  the  contrary,  Col.  Sterling 
Price,  the  brigade  commander,  was  considered  an  active 
enemy  of  the  Mormons. 

At  Santa  Fe,  Capt.  P.  St.  George  Cooke,  an  oflicer  of 
dragoons,  succeeded  to  the  command,  as  lieutenant-colonel, 

11 


under  appointment  of  General  Kearny,  who  already  had 
started  westward.  Capt.  James  Brown  was  ordered  to  take 
command  of  a  party  of  about  eighty  men,  together  with 
about  two-score  women  and  children,  and  with  them  winter 
at  Pueblo,  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Arkansas  River. 
Fifty-five  more  men  were  sent  to  Pueblo  from  the  Rio 
Grande  when  found  unable  to  travel. 

Colonel  Cooke  made  a  rather  discouraging  report  on  the 
character  of  the  command.    He  said: 

It  was  enlisted  too  much  by  families;  some  were  too  old,  some 
feeble,  and  some  too  young;  it  was  embarrassed  by  too  many  women; 
it  was  undisciplined;  it  was  much  worn  by  travel  on  foot  and  march- 
ing from  Nauvoo,  Illinois;  clothing  was  very  scant;  there  was  no  money 
to  pay  them  or  clothing  to  issue;  their  mules  were  utterly  broken 
down;  the  quartermaster  department  was  without  funds  and  its 
credit  bad;  animals  scarce  and  inferior  and  deteriorating  every  hour 
for  lack  of  forage.  So  every  preparation  must  be  pushed — ^hurried. 
The  March  Through  the  Southwest 

After  the  men  had  sent  their  pay  checks  back  to  their 
families,  the  expedition  started  from  Santa  Fe,  448  strong. 
It  had  rations  for  only  sixty  days.  The  commander  wrote 
on  November  19  that  he  was  determined  to  take  along  his 
wagons,  though  the  mules  were  nearly  broken  down  at 
the  outset,  and  added  a  delicate  criticism  of  Fremont  ^s 
self-centered  character,  "The  only  good  mules  were  taken 
for  the  express  for  Fremont's  mail,  the  General's  order 
requiring  the  21  best  in  Santa  Fe." 

Colonel  Cooke  soon  proved  an  officer  who  would  en- 
force discipline.  He  had  secured  an  able  quartermaster  in 
Lieut.  George  Stoneman,  First  Dragoons.  Lieutenant 
Smith  took  office  as  acting  commissary.  Three  mounted 
dragoons  were  taken  along,  one  a  trumpeter.  An  additional 
mounted  company  of  New  Mexican  volunteers,  planned 
at  Santa  Fe,  could  not  be  raised. 

Before  the  command  got  out  of  the  Rio  Grande  Valley, 
the  condition  of  the  commissary  best  is  to  be  illustrated  by 
the  following  extract  from  verses  written  by  Levi  Han- 
cock: 

12 


We  sometimes  now  lack  for  bread, 

Are  less  than  quarter  rations  fed, 
And  soon  expect,  for  all  of  meat. 

Nought  less  than  broke-down  mules  to  eat. 

The  trip  over  the  Continental  Divide  was  one  of  hard- 
ship, at  places  tracks  for  the  wagons  being  made  by  march- 
ing files  of  men  ahead,  to  tramp  down  ruts  wherein  the 
wheels  might  run.  The  command  for  48  hours  at  one  time 
was  without  water.  From  the  top  of  the  Divide  the  wagons 
had  to  be  taken  down  by  hand,  with  men  behind  with  ropes, 
the  horses  driven  below. 

Finally  a  more  level  country  was  reached,  December  2, 
at  the  old,  ruined  ranch  of  San  Bernardino,  near  the  south- 
eastern corner  of  the  present  Arizona.  The  principal  in- 
terest of  the  trip,  till  the  Mexican  forces  at  Tucson  were 
encountered,  then  lay  in  an  attack  upon  the  marching 
column  by  a  number  of  wild  bulls  in  the  San  Pedro  Valley. 
It  had  been  assumed  that  Cooke  would  follow  down  the 
San  Pedro  to  the  Gila,  but,  on  learning  that  the  better  and 
shorter  route  was  by  way  of  Tucson,  he  determined  upon 
a  more  southerly  course. 

Capture  of  the  Pueblo  of  Tucson 

Tucson  was  garrisoned  by  about  200  Mexican  soldiers, 
with  two  small  brass  fieldpieces,  a  concentration  of  the 
garrisons  of  Tubac,  Santa  Cruz  and  Fronteras.  After  some 
brief  parley,  the  Mexican  commander.  Captain  Comaduron, 
refusing  to  surrender,  left  the  village,  compelling  most  of 
its  inhabitants  to  accompany  him.  No  resistance  whatever 
was  made.  When  the  Battalion  marched  in,  the  Colonel 
took  pains  to  assure  the  populace  that  all  would  be  treated 
with  kindness.  He  sent  the  Mexican  commander  a  cour- 
teous letter  for  the  Governor  of  Sonora,  Don  Manuel 
Gandara,  who  was  reported  "disgusted  and  disaffected  to 
the  imbecile  central  government."  Little  food  was  found 
for  the  men,  but  several  thousand  bushels  of  grain  had 
been  left  and  were  drawn  upon.   On  December  17,  the  day 

13 


after  the  arrival  of  the  command,  the  Colonel  and  about 
j&fty  men  "passed  up  a  creek  about  five  miles  above 
Tucson  toward  a  village  (San  Xavier),  where  they  had  seen 
a  large  church  from  the  hills  they  had  passed  over."  The 
Mexican  commander  reported  that  the  Americans  had 
taken  advantage  of  him,  in  that  they  had  entered  the  town 
on  Sunday,  while  he  and  his  command  and  most  of  the 
inhabitants  were  absent  at  San  Xavier,  attending  mass. 

The  Pima  villages  were  reached  four  days  later.  By 
Cooke  the  Indians  were  called  "friendly,  guileless  and 
singularly  innocent  and  cheerful  people." 

In  view  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Pima  and  Maricopa, 
Colonel  Cooke  suggested  that  this  would  be  a  good  place 
for  the  exiled  Saints  to  locate,  and  a  proposal  to  this  effect 
was  favorably  received  by  the  Indians.  It  is  possible  that 
his  suggestion  had  something  to  do  with  the  colonizing  by 
the  Mormons  of  the  upper  part  of  the  nearby  Salt  River 
Valley  in  later  years. 

About  January  1,  1847,  to  lighten  the  load  of  the  half- 
starved  mules,  a  barge  was  made  by  placing  two  wagon 
bodies  on  dry  cottonwood  logs  and  on  this  2500  pounds  of 
provisions  and  corn  were  launched  on  the  Gila  River. 
The  improvised  boat  found  too  many  sandbars,  and  most 
of  its  cargo  had  to  be  jettisoned,  lost  in  a  time  when  rations 
had  been  reduced  to  a  few  ounces  a  day  per  man.  January 
9  the  Colorado  River  was  reached,  and  the  command  and 
its  impedimenta  were  ferried  over  on  the  same  raft  contriv- 
ance that  had  proven  ineffective  on  the  Gila. 

Colonel  Cooke,  in  his  narrative  concerning  the  practi- 
cability of  the  route  he  had  taken,  said:  "Undoubtedly  the 
fine  bottomland  of  the  Colorado,  if  not  of  the  Gila,  will 
soon  be  settled;  then  all  difficulty  will  be  removed." 

The  Battalion  had  still  more  woe  in  its  passage  across 
the  desert  of  Southern  California,  where  wells  often  had 
to  be  dug  for  water  and  where  rations  were  at  a  minimum, 
until  Warner's  ranch  was  reached,  where  each  man  was 


14 


given  five  pounds  of  beef  a  day,  constituting  almost  the 
sole  article  of  subsistence.  Tyler,  the  Battalion  historian, 
insists  that  five  pounds  is  really  a  small  allowance  for  a 
healthy  laboring  man,  because  "when  taken  alone  it  is  not 
nearly  equal  to  mush  and  milk,"  and  he  referred  to  an 
issuance  to  each  of  Fremont's  men  of  ten  pounds  per  day 
of  fat  beef. 

Congratulation  on  Its  Achievement 

At  the  Mission  of  San  Diego,  January  30,  1847,  the 
proud  Battalion  Commander  issued  the  following  memo- 
rable order: 

The  Lieutenant-Colonel  commanding  congratulates  the  Battalion 
on  their  safe  arrival  on  the  shore  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  con- 
clusion of  their  march  of  over  2000  miles. 

History  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  an  equal  march  of  infantry. 
HaK  of  it  has  been  through  a  wilderness,  where  nothing  but  savages 
and  wild  beasts  are  found,  or  deserts  where,  for  want  of  water,  there  is 
no  living  creature.  There,  with  almost  hopeless  labor  we  have  dug 
wells,  which  the  future  traveler  will  enjoy.  Without  a  guide  who  had 
traversed  them,  we  have  ventured  into  trackless  tablelands  where 
water  was  not  found  for  several  marches.  With  crowbar  and  pick,  and 
ax  in  hand,  we  worked  our  way  over  mountains,  which  seemed  to  defy 
aught  save  the  wild  goat,  and  hewed  a  pass  through  a  chasm  of  living 
rock  more  narrow  than  our  wagons.  To  bring  these  first  wagons  to 
the  Pacific,  we  have  preserved  the  strength  of  our  mules  by  herding 
them  over  large  tracts,  which  you  have  laboriously  guarded  without 
loss.  The  garrisons  of  four  presidios  of  Sonora  concentrated  within 
the  walls  of  Tucson,  gave  us  no  pause.  We  drove  them  out  with  our 
artillery,  but  our  intercourse  with  the  citizens  was  unmarked  by  a 
single  act  of  injustice.  Thus,  marching,  half-naked  and  half-fed, 
and  living  upon  wild  animals,  we  have  discovered  and  made  a  road  of 
great  value  to  our  country. 

Arrived  at  the  first  settlements  of  California,  after  a  single  day's 
rest,  you  cheerfully  turned  off  from  the  route  to  this  point  of  promised 
repose,  to  enter  upon  a  campaign  and  meet,  as  we  supposed,  the  ap- 
proach of  an  enemy;  and  this,  too,  without  even  salt  to  season  your 
sole  subsistence  of  fresh  meat. 

Lieutenants  A.  J.  Smith  and  George  Stoneman  of  the  First  Dra- 
goons have  shared  and  given  invaluable  aid  in  all  these  labors. 

Thus,  volunteers,  you  have  exhibited  some  high  and  essential 

15 


qualities  of  veterans.  But  much  remains  undone.  Soon  you  will 
turn  your  attention  to  the  drill,  to  system  and  order,  to  forms  also, 
which  are  all  necessary  to  the  soldier. 

Mapping  the  Way  Through  Arizona 

The  only  map  of  the  route  of  the  Mormon  BattaUon  is 
one  made  by  Colonel  Cooke.  Outhned  on  a  map  of  Arizona, 
it  is  printed  elsewhere  in  this  work,  insofar  as  it  affects  this 
State.  The  Colonel's  map  is  hardlj^  satisfactory,  for  only  at 
a  few  points  does  he  designate  locations  known  today  and 
his  topography  covers  only  the  district  within  his  vision  as 
he  marched. 

Judging  from  present  information  of  the  lay  of  the  land, 
it  is  evident  that  LeRoux  did  not  guide  the  Mormon  Bat- 
talion on  the  easiest  route.  Possibly  this  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  necessary  to  find  water  for  each  daily  camp. 
The  Rio  Grande  was  left  at  a  point  258  miles  south  of 
Santa  Fe,  not  far  from  Mesilla.  Thence  the  journey  was 
generally  toward  the  southwest,  over  a  very  rough  country 
nearly  all  the  way  to  the  historic  old  rancho  of  San  Bernar- 
dino, now  on  the  international  line  about  25  miles  east  of 
the  present  city  of  Douglas.  The  rancho  had  been  aban- 
doned long  before,  because  of  the  depredating  Apaches. 
It  was  stated  by  Cooke  that  before  it  had  been  deserted? 
on  it  were  80,000  cattle,  ranging  as  far  as  the  Gila  to  the 
northward.  The  hacienda  was  enclosed  by  a  wall,  with 
two  regular  bastions,  and  there  was  a  spring  fifteen  feet 
in  diameter. 

The  departure  from  San  Bernardino  was  on  December 
4,  1846,  the  day's  march  to  a  camp  in  a  pass  eight  miles  to 
the  westward,  near  a  rocky  basin  of  water  and  beneath  a 
peak  which  Nature  apparently  had  painted  green,  yellow 
and  brown.  This  camp  was  noted  as  less  than  twenty  miles 
from  Fronteras,  Mexico,  and  near  a  Coyotero  trail  into 
Mexico. 

On  the  5th  was  a  march  of  fourteen  miles,  to  a  large 
spring.  This  must  have  been  almost  south  of  Douglas  or 
Agua  Prieta  (Blackwater). 

16 


On  the  6th  the  Battalion  cut  its  way  twelve  miles 
through  mesquite  to  a  water  hole  in  a  fine  grove  of  oak  and 
walnut.  It  is  suggested  by  Geo.  H.  Kelly  that  this  was  in 
Anavacachi  Pass,  twelve  miles  southwest  of  Douglas. 

On  December  8  seventeen  miles  were  made  northwest, 
to  a  dry  camp,  with  a  view  of  the  valley  of  the  San  Pedro. 
On  the  9th,  either  ten  or  sixteen  miles,  for  the  narrative  is 
indefinite,  the  San  Pedro  was  crossed  and  there  was  camp 
six  miles  lower  down  on  the  western  side.  There  is  notation 
that  the  river  was  followed  for  65  miles,  one  of  the  camps 
being  at  what  was  called  the  Canyon  San  Pedro,  undoubted- 
ly at  The  Narrows,  just  above  Charleston. 

December  14  there  was  a  turn  westward  and  at  a 
distance  of  nine  miles  was  found  a  direct  trail  to  Tucson. 
The  day's  march  was  twenty  miles,  probably  terminating 
at  about  Pantano,  in  the  Cienega  Wash,  though  this  is 
only  indicated  by  the  map  or  description. 

On  the  15th  was  a  twelve-mile  march  to  a  dry  camp  and 
on  the  16th,  after  a  sixteen-mile  march,  camp  was  made  a 
half  mile  west  of  the  pueblo  of  Tucson. 
0  From  Tucson  to  the  Pima  villages  on  the  Gila  River,  a 
distance  of  about  73  miles,  the  way  was  across  the  desert, 
practically  on  the  present  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  rail- 
road. Sixty-two  miles  were  covered  in  51  hours.  At  the 
Gila  there  was  junction  with  General  Kearny's  route. 

From  the  Pima  villages  westward  there  is  mention  of  a 
dry  "Jornada"  (journey)  of  about  forty  miles,  caused  by  a 
great  bend  of  the  Gila  River.  Thus  is  indicated  that  the 
route  was  by  way  of  Estrella  Pass,  south  of  the  Sierra 
Estrella,  on  the  present  railroad  line,  and  not  by  the 
alternative  route,  just  south  of  and  along  the  river  and 
north  of  the  mountains.  Thereafter  the  marches  averaged 
only  ten  miles  a  day,  through  much  sand,  as  far  as  the 
Colorado,  which  was  reached  January  8,  1847. 

The  Battalion's  route  across  Arizona  at  only  one  point 
cut  a  spot  of  future  Mormon  settlement.    This  was  in  the 


17 


San  Pedro  Valley,  where  the  march  of  a  couple  of  days 
was  through  a  fertile  section  that  was  occupied  in  1878  by 
a  community  of  the  faith  from  Lehi.  This  community, 
now  known  as  St.  David,  is  referred  to  elsewhere,  at  length. 

Manufactures  of  the  Arizona  Indians 

Colonel  Cooke  told  that  the  Maricopas,  near  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Gila  and  the  Salt,  had  piled  on  their  house 
arbors  "cotton  in  the  pod  for  drying."  As  he  passed  in  the 
latter  days  of  the  year,  it  is  probable  he  saw  merely  the 
bolls  that  had  been  left  unopened  after  frost  had  come,  and 
that  this  was  not  the  ordinary  method  for  handling  cotton. 
That  considerable  cotton  was  grown  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  a  part  of  Cooke's  company  purchased  cotton  blankets. 
Historian  Tyler  states  that  when  he  reached  Salt  Lake  the 
most  material  feature  of  his  clothing  equipment  was  a  Pima 
blanket,  from  this  proceeding  an  inference  that  the  Indians 
made  cotton  goods  of  lasting  and  wearing  quality.  In  the 
northern  part  of  Arizona,  the  Hopi  also  raised  cotton  and 
made  cloth  and  blankets,  down  to  the  time  of  the  coming 
of  the  white  man,  with  his  gaudy  calicoes  that  undoubtedly 
were  given  prompt  preference  in  the  color-loving  aboriginal 
eye. 
Cooke's  Story  of  the  March 

"The  Conquest  of  New  Mexico  and  California"  is  the 
title  of  an  excellent  and  entertaining  volume  written  in 
1878  by  Lieut.-Col.  P.  St.  George  Cooke,  commander  of 
the  Battalion.  It  embraces  much  concerning  the  political 
features  found  or  developed  in  both  Territories  and  deals 
somewhat  with  the  Kearny  expedition  and  with  the  Doni- 
phan campaign  into  Mexico  that  moved  from  Socorro  two 
months  after  the  Battalion  started  westward  from  the  Rio 
Grande.  Despite  his  eloquent  acknowledgment  of  good 
service  in  the  San  Diego  order,  he  had  little  to  say  in  his 
narrative  concerning  the  personnel  of  his  command.  In 
addition  to  the  estimate  of  the  command  printed  on  a  pre- 


18 


ceding  page,  he  wrote,  "The  BattaHon  have  never  been 
drilled  and  though  obedient,  have  little  discipline;  they 
exhibit  great  heedlessness  and  ignorance  and  some  ob- 
stinacy." The  ignorance  undoubtedly  was  of  military  mat- 
ters, for  the  men  had  rather  better  than  the  usual  schooling 
of  the  rough  period.  At  several  points  his  diary  gave  such 
details  as,  "The  men  arrived  completely  worn  down;  they 
staggered  as  they  marched,  as  they  did  yesterday.  A  great 
many  of  the  men  are  wholly  without  shoes  and  use  every 
expedient,  such  as  rawhide  moccasins  and  sandals  and  even 
wrapping  the  feet  in  pieces  of  woolen  and  cotton  cloth." 

It  is  evident  that  to  the  Colonel's  West  Point  ideas  of 
discipline  the  conduct  of  his  command  was  a  source  of 
irritation  that  eventually  was  overcome  when  he  found  he 
could  depend  upon  the  individuals  as  well  as  upon  the 
companies.  Several  stories  are  told  of  his  encounters  in 
repartee  with  his  soldiers,  in  which  he  did  not  always  have 
the  upper  hand,  despite  his  rank.  Brusque  in  manner,  he 
yet  had  a  saving  sense  of  humor  that  had  to  be  drawn  upon 
to  carry  off  situations  that  would  have  been  intolerable  in 
his  own  command  of  dragoons. 

Tyler's  Record  of  the  Expedition 

The  best  of  the  narratives  concerning  the  march  of  the 
Battalion  is  in  a  book  printed  in  1881  by  Daniel  Tyler,  an 
amplification  of  a  remarkable  diary  kept  by  him  while  a 
member  of  the  organization.  This  book  has  an  exceptionally 
important  introduction,  written  by  John  Taylor,  President 
of  the  Mormon  Church,  detailing  at  length  the  circum- 
stances that  led  to  the  western  migration  of  his  people. 
He  is  especially  graphic  in  his  description  of  the  riots  of  the 
summer  of  1844,  culminating  in  the  assassination  of 
Prophet  Joseph  Smith  and  his  brother  Hyrum  at  Carthage, 
Illinois,  on  June  27th.  Taylor  was  with  the  Prophet  at  the 
time  and  was  badly  wounded.  There  also  is  an  interesting 
introductory  chapter,  written  by  Col.  Thos.  L.  Kane,  not 
a  Mormon,  dramatically  dwelling  upon  the  circumstances. 

19 


of  the  exodus  from  Nauvoo  and  the  later  dedication  there 
of  the  beautiful  temple,  abandoned  immediately  thereafter. 
He  wrote  also  of  the  Mormon  camps  that  were  then  working 
westward,  describing  the  high  spirit  and  even  cheerfulness 
in  which  the  people  were  accepting  exile  from  a  grade  of 
civilization  that  had  made  them  prefer  the  wilds.  Colonel 
Kane  helped  in  the  organization  of  the  Battalion,  in  bring- 
ing influence  to  bear  upon  the  President  and  in  carrying 
to  Fort  Leavenworth  the  orders  under  which  the  then  Col- 
onel Kearny  proceeded. 

Henry  Standage's  Personal  Journal 

One  of  the  treasures  of  the  Arizona  Historian's  office 
is  a  copy  of  a  journal  of  about  12,000  words  kept  by  Henry 
Standage,  covering  his  service  as  a  member  of  the  Mormon 
BattaHon  from  July  19,  1846,  to  July  19,  1847.  The  writer 
in  his  later  years  was  a  resident  of  Mesa,  his  home  in  Alma 
Ward.  His  manuscript  descended  to  his  grandsons,  Orrin 
and  Clarence  Standage. 

Standage  writes  from  the  standpoint  of  the  private 
soldier,  with  the  soldier's  usual  little  growl  over  conditions 
that  affect  his  comfort ;  yet,  throughout  the  narrative,  there 
is  evidence  of  strong  integrity  of  purpose,  of  religious  feel- 
ing and  of  sturdiness  befitting  a  good  soldier. 

There  is  pathos  in  the  very  start,  how  he  departed  from 
the  Camp  of  Israel,  near  Council  Bluffs,  leaving  his  wife  and 
mother  in  tears.  He  had  been  convinced  by  T.  B.  Piatt  of 
the  necessity  of  obedience  to  the  call  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  enlist  in  the  federal  service.  The  narrative 
contradicts  in  no  way  the  more  extensive  chronicle  by  Tyler. 
There  is  description  of  troubles  that  early  beset  the  inex- 
perienced soldiers,  who  appear  to  have  been  illy  prepared  to 
withstand  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  There  was  sage 
dissertation  concerning  the  efforts  of  an  army  surgeon  to 
use  calomel,  though  the  men  preferred  the  exercise  of  faith. 
Buffalo  was  declared  the  best  meat  he  had  ever  eaten. 

On  November  1  satisfaction  was  expressed  concerning 

20 


MORMON  BATTALION  OFFICERS 

1 — p.    St.    George    Cooke,    Lieut.    Col.    Commandin.e: 
2 — Lieut.    George   P.    Dykes,   Adjutant,    succeeded   by 
3 — Lieut.    Philemon    C.    Merrill,   Adjutant 


BATTALION  MEMBERS  AT   GOLD    DISCOVERY 

Above — Henry   W.   Bigler  Azariah   Smith 

Below— Wni.  J.  .Johnston  James   S.   Brown 


BATTALION  MEMBERS  WHO  RETl'KXED  To  ARIZOXA 


1 — Serpft.    Nathaniel    V.    Jones 
2— Wm.   C.   McClellan 
3 — Sanford   Porter 
4 — Lot   Smith 
•5 — John    Hunt 


6 — Wilson   D.    Pace 
7 — Samuel    I^ewis 
8— Wesley    Adair 
9 — Lieut.  James   Pace 
10 — Christopher   Layton 


the  resignation  of  Geo.  P.  Dykes  as  adjutant  and  over 
substitution  to  the  place  of  Philemon  C.  Merrill.  When  the 
sick  were  sent  to  Pueblo,  November  10,  Standage  fer- 
vently wrote,  *'This  does  in  reality  make  solemn  times  for 
us,  so  many  divisions  taking  place.  May  the  God  of 
Heaven  protect  us  all." 

San  Bernardino,  in  Sonora,  was  reached  December  2, 
being  found  in  ruins,  "though  all  around  us  a  pleasant 
valley  with  good  water  and  grass."  Appreciation  was  ex- 
pressed over  the  flavor  of  "a  kind  of  root,  baked,  which  the 
Spaniards  called  mas  kurl"  (mescal).  Many  of  the  cattle 
had  Spanish  brands  on  their  hips,  it  being  explained, 
"Indians  had  been  so  troublesome  in  times  past  that  the 
Spaniards  had  to  abandon  the  towns  and  vineyards,  and 
cross  the  Cordillera  Mountains,  leaving  their  large  flocks 
of  cattle  in  the  valley,  thus  making  plenty  of  food  for  the 
Apalchas." 

In  San  Pedro  valley  were  found  "good  horse  feed  and 
fish  in  abundance  (salmon  trout),  large  herds  of  wild  cattle 
and  plenty  of  antelope  and  some  bear."  The  San  Pedro 
River  was  especially  noted  as  having  "mill  privileges  in 
abundance."  Here  it  was  that  Lieutenant  Stoneman,  acci- 
dentally shot  himself  in  the  hand.  Two  old  deserted  towns 
were  passed. 

Standage  tells  that  the  Spanish  soldiers  had  gone  from 
Tucson  when  the  Battalion  arrived,  but  that,  "we  were 
kindly  treated  by  the  people,  who  brought  flour,  meal, 
tobacco  and  quinces  to  the  camp  for  sale,  and  many  of 
them  gave  such  things  to  the  soldiers.  We  camped  about 
a  half  mile  from  the  town.  The  Colonel  suffered  no  private 
property  to  be  touched,  neither  was  it  in  the  heart  of  any 
man  to  my  knowledge  to  do  so." 

Considering  the  strength  of  the  Spanish  garrison.  Stand- 
age  was  led  to  exclaim  that,  "the  Lord  God  of  Israel  would 
save  his  people,  inasmuch  as  he  knoweth  the  causes  of  our 
being  here  in  the  United  States."   Possibly  it  was  unfair  to 

21 


say  that  no  one  but  the  Lord  knew  why  the  soldiers  were 
there,  and  Tucson  then  was  not  in  the  United  States. 

The  journey  to  the  Gila  River  was  a  hard  one,  but  the 
chronicler  was  compensated  by  seeing  "the  long  looked-for 
country  of  California,"  which  it  was  not.  The  Pimas  were 
found  very  friendly,  bringing  food,  which  they  readily 
exchanged  for  such  things  as  old  shirts.  Standage  especially 
was  impressed  by  the  eating  of  a  watermelon,  for  the  day 
was  Christmas.  January  10,  1847,  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Colorado,  he  was  detailed  to  the  gathering  of  mesquite 
beans,  "a  kind  of  sweet  seed  that  grows  on  a  tree  resembling 
the  honey  locust,  the  mules  and  men  being  very  fond  of 
this.  The  brethren  use  this  in  various  ways,  some  grinding 
it  and  mixing  it  in  bread  with  the  flour,  others  making  pud- 
ding, while  some  roast  it  or  eat  it  raw.''  "January  27,  at 
1  o'clock,  we  came  in  sight  of  the  ocean,  the  great  Pacific, 
which  was  a  great  sight  to  some,  having  never  seen  any 
portion  of  the  briny  deep  before." 

California  Towns  and  Soldier  Experiences 

At  San  Diego,  which  was  reached  by  Standage  and  a 
small  detachment  January  30,  provisions  were  found  very 
scarce,  while  prices  were  exorbitant.  Sugar  cost  50  cents  a 
pound,  so  the  soldier  regaled  himself  with  one-quarter  of 
a  pound  and  gathered  some  mustard  greens  to  eke  out  his 
diet.  For  26  days  he  had  eaten  almost  nothing  but  beef. 
He  purchased  a  little  wheat  from  the  Indians  and  ground 
it  in  a  hand  mill,  to  make  some  cakes,  which  were  a  treat. 

Late  in  April,  at  Los  Angeles,  there  was  a  move  to 
another  camping  ground,  "as  the  Missouri  volunteers 
(Error,  New  York  volunteers — Author)  had  threatened  to 
come  down  upon  us.  A  few  days  later  we  were  called  up  at 
night  in  order  to  load  and  fix  bayonets,  as  Colonel  Cooke 
had  sent  word  that  an  attack  might  be  expected  from 
Colonel  Fremont's  men  before  day.  They  had  been  using 
all  possible  means  to  prejudice  the  Spaniards  and  Indians 
against  us." 

22 


Los  Angeles  made  poor  impression  upon  the  soldiers  in 
the  BattaUon.  The  inhabitants  were  called  "degraded" 
and  it  was  declared  that  there  were  almost  as  many  grog 
shops  and  gambling  dens  as  private  houses.  Reference  is 
made  to  the  roofs  of  reeds,  covered  with  pitch  from  tar 
springs  nearby.  Incidentally,  these  tar  "springs"  in  a  later 
century  led  to  development  of  the  oil  industry,  that  now  is 
paramount  in  much  of  California,  and  have  been  found  to 
contain  fossil  remains  of  wonderful  sort. 

The  Indians  were  said  "to  do  all  the  labor,  the  Mexicans 
generally  on  horseback  from  morning  till  night.  They  are 
perhaps  the  greatest  horsemen  in  the  known  world  and  very 
expert  with  lariat  and  lasso,  but  great  gamblers." 

Food  assuredly  was  not  dear,  for  cattle  sold  for  $5  a 
head.  Many  cattle  were  killed  merely  for  hides  and  tallow 
and  for  the  making  of  soap. 

About  the  most  entertaining  section  of  Standage's 
journal  is  that  which  chronicles  his  stay  in  Southern  Cali- 
fornia, possibly  because  it  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  do 
something  else  beside  tramping.  There  is  much  detail 
concerning  re-enhstment,  but  there  was  general  inclination 
to  follow  the  advice  of  Father  Pettegrew,  who  showed  "the 
necessity  of  returning  to  the  prophets  of  the  Lord  before 
going  any  further." 

Just  before  the  muster-out,  the  soldiers  were  given  an 
opportunity  to  witness  a  real  Spanish  bull  fight,  called  "a 
scene  of  cruelty,  savoring  strongly  of  barbarity  and  in- 
dolence, though  General  Pico,  an  old  Mexican  commander, 
went  into  the  ring  several  times  on  horseback  and  fought 
the  bulls  with  a  short  spear." 

What  with  the  hostility  of  the  eastern  volunteers,  the 
downright  enmity  of  Fremont's  company  and  the  alien 
habits  of  the  Mexican  population,  the  sober-minded  mem- 
bers of  the  Battalion  must  have  been  compelled  to  keep 
their  own  society  very  largely  while  in  the  pueblo  of  Los 
Angeles,  or,  to  give  it  its  Spanish  appellation,  "El  Pueblo 

23 


de  Nuestra  Senora  la  Reina  de  los  Angeles  de  Porciuncula." 
Still,  some  of  them  tried  to  join  in  the  diversions  of  the 
people  of  the  country.  On  one  occasion,  according  to  His- 
torian Eldridge,  there  was  something  of  a  quarrel  between 
Captain  Hunt  and  Alcalde  Carrillo,  who  had  given  offense 
by  observing  that  the  American  officer  "danced  like  a 
bear."  The  Alcalde  apologized  very  courteously,  saying 
that  bears  were  widely  known  as  dancers,  but  the  breach 
was  not  healed. 

Christopher  Layton's  Soldiering. 

Another  history  of  the  Battalion  especially  interesting 
from  an  Arizona  standpoint,  is  contained  in  the  life  of 
Christopher  Layton,  issued  in  1911  and  written  by  Layton's 
daughter,  Mrs.  Selina  Layton  Phillips,  from  data  supplied 
by  the  Patriarch.  The  narrative  is  one  of  the  best  at  hand 
in  the  way  of  literary  preparation,  though  with  frank 
statement  that  President  Layton  himself  had  all  too  little 
education  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  task. 

Layton  was  a  private  soldier  in  Company  C,  under 
Capt.  James  Brown.  There  is  nothing  of  especial  novelty  in 
the  narrative,  nor  does  there  seem  anything  of  prophecy 
when  the  Battalion  passed  through  the  Valley  of  the  San 
Pedro  in  December,  1846,  through  a  district  to  which 
Layton  was  to  return,  in  1883,  as  leader  of  a  Mormon 
colony. 

Layton  was  one  of  the  number  that  remained  in  Cali- 
fornia after  the  discharge  of  the  Battalion,  eventually 
rejoining  the  Saints,  at  Salt  Lake,  by  way  of  his  native 
land,  England. 

In  B.  H.  Roberts'  very  interesting  little  work  on  the 
Mormon  Battalion  is  told  this  story  of  the  later  patriarch 
of  the  Gila  settlement: 

While  Colonel  Cooke  was  overseeing  the  ferrying  of  the  Battalion 
across  the  Colorado  River,  Christopher  Layton  rode  up  to  the  river 
on  a  mule,  to  let  it  drink.  Colonel  Cooke  said  to  him,  "Young  man,  I 
want  you  to  ride  across  the  river  and  carry  a  message  for  me  to  Cap- 

24 


tain  Hunt."  It  being  natural  for  the  men  to  obey  the  Colonel's  order, 
he  (La>^on)  tried  to  ride  into  the  river,  but  he  had  gone  but  a  few 
steps  before  his  mule  was  going  in  all  over.  So  Brother  Layton  stopped. 
The  Colonel  hallooed  out,  "Go  on,  young  man;  go  on,  young  man." 
But  Brother  Layton,  on  a  moment's  reflection,  was  satisfied  that,  if 
he  attempted  it,  both  he  and  his  mule  would  stand  a  good  chance 
to  be  dro\NTied.  The  Colonel  himself  was  satisfied  of  the  same.  So 
Brother  Layton  turned  his  mule  and  rode  off,  saying,  as  he  came 
out,  "Colonel,  I'll  see  you  in  hell  before  I  will  drown  myself  and  mule 
in  that  river."  The  Colonel  looked  at  him  a  moment,  and  said  to  the 
bystanders,  "What  is  that  man's  name?"  "Christopher  Layton, 
sir."     "Well,  he  is  a  saucy  fellow." 

That  the  Mormon  BattaUon  did  not  always  rigidly 
obey  orders  is  shown  in  another  story  detailed  by  Roberts : 

^\^lile  the  Battalion  was  at  Santa  Fe,  Colonel  Cooke  ordered  Lot 
Smith  to  guard  a  Mexican  corral,  and,  having  a  company  of  United 
States  cavalrj'  camped  by,  he  told  Lot  if  the  men  came  to  steal  the 
poles  to  bayonet  them.  The  men  came  and  surrounded  the  corral, 
and  while  Lot  was  guarding  one  side,  they  would  hitch  to  a  pole  on  the 
other  and  ride  off  with  it.  WTien  the  Colonel  saw  the  poles  were  gone, 
he  asked  Lot  why  he  did  not  obey  orders  and  bayonet  the  thieves. 
Lot  replied,  "If  you  expect  me  to  bayonet  United  States  troops  for 
taking  a  pole  on  the  enemy's  ground  to  make  a  fire  of,  you  mistake 
your  man."  Lot  expected  to  be  punished,  and  he  was  placed  under 
guard;  but  nothing  further  was  done  about  it. 

Western  Dash  of  the  Kearny  Dragoons 

Of  collateral  interest  is  the  record  of  the  Kearny  expe- 
dition. The  Colonel,  raised  to  General  at  Santa  Fe,  left 
that  point  September  25,  1846,  with  300  dragoons,  under 
Col.  E.  V.  Sumner.  The  historians  of  the  party  were  Lieut. 
W.  H.  Emory  of  the  Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers 
(later  in  charge  of  the  Boundary  Survey)  and  Capt.  A.  R. 
Johnston,  the  latter  killed  at  San  Pascual.  Kearny  was 
piloted  by  the  noted  Kit  Carson,  who  was  turned  back  as 
he  was  traveling  eastward  with  dispatches  from  Fremont. 
The  Gila  route  was  taken,  though  there  had  to  be  a  detour 
at  the  box  canyon  above  the  mouth  of  the  San  Pedro. 
Emory  and  Johnston  wrote  much  of  the  friendly  Pima.  The 
former  made  prophecy,  since  sustained,  concerning  the  de- 

25 


velopment  of  the  Salt  and  other  river  valleys,  and  the  work- 
ing of  great  copper  deposits  noted  by  him  on  the  Gila,  at 
Mineral  Creek.  The  Colorado  was  crossed  November  24. 
On  December  6  the  small  command,  weary  with  its 
march  and  illy  provisioned,  was  attacked  at  San  Pascual 
by  Gen.  Andres  Pico.  Two  days  of  fighting  found  the 
Americans  in  sad  plight,  with  eighteen  killed  and  thirteen 
wounded.  The  enemy  had  been  severely  handled,  but  still 
barred  the  way  to  the  nearby  seacoast.  Guide  Kit  Carson 
and  Naval  Lieutenant  E.  F.  Beale  managed  to  slip  through 
to  San  Diego,  there  to  summon  help.  It  came  to  the  be- 
leaguered Americans  December  10,  a  party  of  180  well- 
armed  sailors  and  marines,  sent  by  Commodore  Stockton, 
falling  upon  the  rear  of  the  Mexican  host,  which  dispersed. 
The  following  day,  Kearny  entered  San  Diego,  thence 
proceeding  northward  to  help  in  the  final  overthrow  of 
Mexican  authority  within  Alta  California. 


26 


Chapter  Three 


Heading  Eastward  Toward  ''Home" 

Muster-out  of  the  Battalion  was  at  Los  Angeles,  July 
16,  1847,  just  a  year  after  enlistment,  eight  daj^s  before 
Brigham  Young  reached  Great  Salt  Lake.  The  joyous 
ceremonial  was  rather  marred  by  the  fact  that  the  muster- 
out  officer  was  none  other  than  Lieutenant  Smith.  There 
was  an  attempt  to  keep  the  entire  Battalion  in  the  service, 
both  Kearny  and  Colonel  Mason  urging  reenlistment.  At 
the  same  time  was  an  impolitic  speech  by  Colonel  Steven- 
son of  the  New  York  Volunteers.  He  said:  "Your  patriot- 
ism and  obedience  to  your  officers  have  done  much  toward 
removing  the  prejudices  of  the  Government  and  the  com- 
munity at  large,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  another  year's 
service  would  place  you  on  a  level  with  other  communities." 
This  speech  hardly  helped  in  inclining  the  men  toward 
extension  of  a  service  in  which  it  was  felt  all  that  had  been 
required  had  been  delivered.  Stevenson,  a  politician 
rather  than  a  soldier,  seemed  to  have  a  theorj^  that  the 
Mormons  were  seeking  reenlistment  of  a  second  battalion 
or  regiment,  that  California  might  be  peopled  by  them- 
selves. There  was  opposition  to  reenlistment  among  the 
elders,  especially  voiced  by  "Father"  Pettegrew  and  by 
members  Hyde  and  Tyler.  Even  promise  that  independent 
command  would  be  given  to  Captain  Hunt  did  not  prove 
effective.  Only  one  company  was  formed  of  men  who 
were  willing  to  remain  in  California  for  a  while  longer.  In 
this  new  company  were  Henry  G.  Boyle,  Henry  Brizzee, 
Lot  Smith  and  George  Steele,  all  later  residents  of  Arizona. 

27 


Most  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Battalion  made  haste  in 
preparation  to  rejoin  the  main  body  of  the  people  of  their 
faith.  Assuredly  they  had  little  knowledge  of  what  was 
happening  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  On  the  20th  of  July, 
four  days  before  the  Mormon  arrival  in  the  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  most  of  the  men  had  been  organized  to  travel 
"home"  after  what  Tyler  called  "both  the  ancient  and  the 
modern  Israelitish  custom,  in  companies  of  hundreds, 
fifties  and  tens."  The  leaders  were  Andrew  Lytle  and  James 
Pace,  with  Sergeants  Hyde,  Tyler  and  Reddick  N.  Allred 
as  captains  of  fifties. 

The  first  intention  to  travel  via  Cajon  Pass  was  aban- 
doned, and  the  companies  took  the  northern  route,  via 
Sutter's  Fort  on  the  Sacramento  River,  to  follow  Fremont's 
trail  across  the  Sierras.  On  the  Sacramento  they  received 
the  first  news  of  their  brethren  since  leaving  Fort  Leaven- 
worth, a  year  before.  They  learned  that  the  Saints  were 
settling  the  Great  Salt  Lake  Valley,  and  there  also  was 
news  of  the  Brannan  party  at  San  Francisco. 

With  full  assent  from  the  leaders,  some  of  the  brethren 
remained  in  the  vicinity  of  Sutter's  Fort,  where  work  was 
plenty,  and  probably  half  of  those  who  went  on  across  the 
mountains  returned  on  receipt  of  advices  that  came  to 
them  at  Donner  Lake,  at  the  hands  of  Capt.  James  Brown, 
of  the  Pueblo  detachment.  The  Church  authorities  in- 
structed all  who  had  insufficient  means  to  remain  in  Cali- 
fornia and  labor  and  to  bring  their  earnings  with  them  in 
the  spring.  Tyler,  with  his  party,  arrived  in  Salt  Lake 
Valley  October  16,  to  find  his  relatives  hving  in  a  fort, 
which  had  all  rooms  opening  into  an  enclosure,  with  port- 
holes for  defense  cut  in  the  outer  walls. 

The  new  company,  with  additional  enlistment  of  six 
months,  was  placed  under  Capt.  Daniel  C.  Davis,  who  had 
been  in  command  of  Company  E.  The  company  was 
marched  to  San  Diego,  arriving  August  2.  A  detachment 
under  Lieut.  Ruel  Barrus  garrisoned  San  Luis  Rey.     In 

28 


BATTALION  MEMBERS  WHO  RETURNED  TO  ARIZONA 


I — Samuel  H.  Rogers 
2 — Henry  Standage 
3 — Edward  Bunker 
4 — Henry  W.  Brizzee 
5 — George  Steele 


6 — Hyrum  Judd 
7 — Samuel  Thompson 
8— Wm.  A.  Follett 
9— Schuyler  Hulett 
10 — David  Pulsipher 


BATTALION  MEMBERS  WHO  RETURNED  TO  ARIZONA 


I— RufusC.  Allen 
3 — Reuben  Allred 
6 — Henry  G.  Boyle 


2 — John  Steele 
4— Elzada  Ford  Allred    •  5— Wm.  B.  Maxwell 

7— Zadok  K.  .ludd 


San  Diego  the  men  appeared  to  have  ^-^d  Uttle  military 
duty.  They  were  allowed  to  work  as  mechanics,  repaired 
wagons,  did  blacksmithing  and  erected  a  bakery.  They 
becarqe  very  popular  with  the  townspeople,  who  wanted  to 
retain  them  as  permanent  residents.  It  was  noted  that  the 
Mormons  had  conquered  prejudice  and  had  effected  a 
kind  of  industrial  revolution  in  languid  Alta  California. 

The  enlistment  term  expired  in  January,  but  it  was 
March,  1848,  before  the  men  were  paid  off  and  discharged. 
Most  of  the  78  members  of  the  company  went  northward, 
but  one  party  of  22,  led  by  Henry  G.  Boyle,  taking  a  wagon 
and  135  mules,  started  to  Salt  Lake  by  way  of  the  Mojave 
desert,  reaching  its  destination  June  5.  This  would 
appear  to  have  been  a  very  important  journey,  the  party 
probably  being  first  with  wagons  to  travel  what  later 
became  known  as  the  Mormon  road. 

Following  the  very  practical  customs  of  their  people, 
the  members  of  the  Battalion  picked  up  in  California  a 
large  quantity  of  seeds  and  grains  for  replanting  in  Utah, 
welcomed  in  establishing  the  marvelous  agricultural  com- 
munity there  developed.  Lieut.  James  Pace  brought  in  the 
club-head  wheat,  which  proved  especially  suited  to  inter- 
mountain  climatic  conditions.  From  Pueblo  other  members 
brought  the  Taos  wheat,  which  also  proved  valuable. 
Daniel  Tyler  brought  the  California  pea. 

Although  the  Author  has  seen  little  mention  of  it,  the  1 
Battalion  membership  took  to  Utah  much  valuable  infor- 
mation concerning  methods  of  irrigation,  gained  at  Pueblo, 
in  the  Rio  Grande  Valley  and  in  California.  While  most  of 
the  emigrants  were  of  the  farming  class,  their  experience 
had  been  wholly  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  or  farther  east, 
where  the  rains  alone  were  depended  upon  to  furnish  the 
moisture  necessary  for  crops. 

With  the  Pueblo  Detachment 

Capt.  James  Brown  would  have  led  his  band  from 
Pueblo  as  soon  as  the  snows  had  melted  in  the  passes,  but 

29 


held  back  on  receipt  of  information  that  the  main  body  of 
Saints  still  was  on  the  plains.  As  it  was,  he  and  his  charge 
arrived  at  Salt  Lake,  July  29,  1847,  five  days  after  the 
advent  of  Brigham  Young.  Brown  remained  only  a  few 
days,  setting  out  early  in  August  for  California,  there  to 
receive  the  pay  of  his  command.  The  main  body  had  been 
paid  off  at  Los  Angeles,  July  15.  On  his  westward  way, 
Brown  led  a  small  company  over  the  Carson  route.  In  the 
Sierras,  September  6,  he  met  the  first  returning  detach- 
ment of  Battalion  soldiers.  To  them  he  delivered  letters 
from  the  First  Presidency  telling  of  the  scarcity  of  food  in 
the  Salt  Lake  Valley.  Sam  Brannan,  leader  at  San  Fran- 
cisco, had  passed,  going  westward,  only  the  day  before, 
giving  a  gloomy  account  of  the  new  home  of  the  Saints. 
So  about  half  the  Battalion  men  turned  back  to  Sutter's 
Fort,  presumably  with  Brown.  Brown  returned  from 
Los  Angeles  with  the  pay  of  his  men,  money  sorely 
needed. 

The  Pueblo  detachment  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  with 
about  fifty  individuals  from  Mississippi  added  to  the  150 
men  and  women  who  had  been  separated  from  the  main 
body  of  the  Battalion  in  New  Mexico.  Forty-six  of  the 
Battalion  men  accompanied  President  Young  when  he 
started  back,  August  8,  for  Winter  Quarters,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Missouri,  five  miles  above  Omaha,  to  help  in 
piloting  over  the  plains  the  main  body  of  Saints. 

Captain  Brown,  according  to  a  Brigham  Young  manu- 
script, was  absent  in  California  three  months  and  seven 
days,  returning  late  in  November,  1847,  bringing  back  with 
him  the  pay  due  the  Pueblo  contingent.  Several  stories  were 
given  concerning  the  amount.  One  was  that  it  was  about 
$5000,  mainly  in  gold,  and  another  that  the  amount  was 
$10,000  in  Mexican  doubloons. 

The  Pueblo  detachment  had  been  paid  last  in  Santa  Fe 
in  May,  1846.  The  muster-out  rolls  were  taken  by  Brown 
to  Paymaster  Rich  of  Colonel  Mason's  command  in  Cali- 

30 


fornia.     Pay  included  July  29,  1847,  thirteen  days  after 
expiration  of  the  term  of  enlistment. 

A  part  of  the  money,  apparently  considered  as  com- 
munity property,  was  used  early  in  1848  in  the  purchase 
of  a  tract  of  land,  about  twenty  miles  square,  at  the  mouth 
of  Weber  Canyon.  The  sum  of  $1950,  cash,  was  paid  to 
one  Goodyear,  who  claimed  to  own  a  Mexican  grant,  but 
who  afterward  proved  to  have  only  a  squatter  right.  The 
present  city  of  Ogden  is  on  this  same  tract. 

California  Comments  on  the  Battalion 

Very  generally  there  has  come  down  evidence  that  the 
men  of  the  Battalion  were  of  very  decent  sort.  Colonel 
Mason,  commanding  the  California  military  department, 
in  June,  1847,  made  report  to  the  Adjutant  General  of  the 
Army: 

Of  the  service  of  this  Battalion,  of  their  patience,  subordination 
and  general  good  conduct  you  have  already  heard;  and  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  adding  that  as  a  body  of  men  they  have  religiously  respect- 
ed the  rights  and  feelings  of  these  conquered  people,  and  not  a  syllable 
of  complaint  has  reached  my  ears  of  a  single  insult  offered  or  outrage 
done  by  a  Mormon  volunteer.  So  high  an  opinion  did  I  entertain  of 
the  Battalion  and  of  their  especial  fitness  for  the  duties  now  performed 
by  the  garrisons  in  this  country  that  I  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
engage  their  services  for  another  year. 

With  reference  to  the  Mormon  Battalion,  Father  Engel- 
hardt,  in  his  "Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California," 
wrote : 

It  is  not  likely  that  these  Mormons,  independent  of  United  States 
and  military  regulations,  would  have  wantonly  destroyed  any  part  of 
the  church  property  or  church  fixtures  during  their  several  months' 
stay  at  San  Luis  Rey.  Whatever  some  of  the  moral  tenets  held  by 
them  in  those  days,  the  Mormons,  to  all  appearances,  were  a  God- 
fearing body,  who,  ....  manifested  some  respect  for  the  religious 
convictions  and  feelings  of  other  men,  notably  of  the  Catholics.  It 
is,  therefore,  highly  improbable  that  they  . . .  raved  against .  . .  religious 
emblems  found  in  the  missions  of  California.  On  the  contrary,  they 
appear  to  have  let  everything  alone,  even  made  repairs,  and  minded 
their  own  duties  to  their  Creator,  in  that  they  practiced  their  religion 
openly  whithersoever  they  went  .... 

31 


Leaders  of  the  Battalion 

Colonel  Cooke  for  a  while  was  in  command  of  the 
southern  half  of  Alta  California,  incidentally  coming  into 
a  part  of  the  row  created  when  Fremont  laid  claim  upon  the 
governorship  of  the  Territory.  In  this  his  men  were  af- 
fected to  a  degree,  for  Fremont's  father-in-law  and  patron. 
Senator  Benton,  was  believed  one  of  the  bitterest  foes  of 
the  Mormon  people. 

Cooke  resigned  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  volunteers,  ef- 
fective May  13,  1847,  he  thus  leaving  the  Battalion  before 
the  date  of  its  discharge.  He  accompanied  General  Kearny 
on  an  83-day  ride  eastward,  returning  to  Fort  Leavenworth 
August  22.  With  them  was  Fremont,  arrested,  charged 
with  mutiny  in  refusing  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
Kearny  in  California.  He  was  found  guilty,  but  a  sentence 
of  dismissal  from  the  army  was  remitted  by  President 
Polk.     Fremont  immediately  resigned  from  the  service. 

Cooke,  in  1857-8,  led  the  cavalry  of  Gen.  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston's  expedition  to  Utah  and  there  is  a  memorandum 
that,  when  his  regiment  marched  through  the  streets  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  the  Colonel  rode  with  uncovered  head, 
"out  of  respect  to  the  brave  men  of  the  Mormon  Bat- 
talion he  had  commanded  in  their  march  to  the  Pacific." 
In  the  Civil  War  he  was  a  brigadier-general,  with  brevet  of 
major-general  in  1865. 

Lieut.  A.  J.  Smith,  whose  disciplinary  ideas  may  have 
been  too  severe  for  a  command  that  started  with  such 
small  idea  of  discipline,  nevertheless  proved  a  brave  and 
skillful  officer.  He  rose  in  1864  to  be  major-general  of 
volunteers  and  was  brevetted  major-general  of  regulars 
for  distinguished  service  in  command  of  the  Sixteenth 
army  corps,  under  General  Thomas,  at  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville. 

Lieut.  George  Stoneman  in  1854  commanded  a  dragoon 
escort  for  Lieut.  J.  G.  Parke,  who  laid  out  a  railroad  route 
across  Arizona,  from  the  Pima  villages  through  Tucson, 

32 


much  on  the  line  of  the  present  Southern  Pacific.  He  was 
a  captain,  commanding  Fort  Brown,  Texas,  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  rose  to  the  rank  of 
major-general  of  volunteers,  with  fame  in  the  Virginia 
campaign  as  chief  of  cavalry  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
in  which  he  later  was  a  division  and  corps  commander. 
In  1870  and  1871  he  commanded  the  military  department 
of  Arizona,  during  the  time  of  the  Old  Fort  Grant  mas- 
sacre, and  his  name  is  still  borne  by  the  Stoneman  Grade, 
above  Silver  King,  a  trail  built  by  him  to  better  command 
the  Indian-infested  mountains  beyond.  He  was  Democratic 
Governor  of  California  from  1883  to  1887.  A  son,  Geo. 
J.  Stoneman,  for  years  resided  in  Phoenix. 

Lieut.  Edw.  F.  Beale,  who  helped  save  the  Kearny 
expedition  near  San  Diego  was  a  member  of  a  party  that 
had  been  sent  from  San  Diego  to  meet  the  dragoons.  The 
following  March,  he  and  Carson  carried  dispatches  east, 
taking  the  Gila  route.  In  August,  1848,  again  in  Cali- 
fornia, he  was  made  the  naval  messenger  to  advise  Wash- 
ington of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  In  1857  he 
made  a  remarkable  survey  of  the  35th  parallel  across 
Arizona,  using  camels,  and  he  repeated  the  trip  in  1859. 

The  camels  had  been  brought  from  Syria.  They  carried 
three  times  a  mule  load  and  were  declared  ideal  for  pioneer 
transportation  uses.  But  Beale  was  alone  in  their  praise 
and  the  camels  eventually  were  turned  loose  on  the  plains. 
He  was  minister  to  Austria  in  1878. 

Both  adjutants  of  the  Mormon  Battalion  later  became 
permanent  residents  of  Arizona.  Geo.  P.  Dykes  for  years 
was  a  resident  of  Mesa,  where  he  died  in  1888,  at  the  age 
of  83.  Philemon  C.  Merrill,  in  1881,  was  one  of  the  cus- 
todians of  the  Utah  stone,  sent  from  Salt  Lake,  for  in- 
sertion in  the  Washington  Monument,  in  Washington. 
He  and  his  family  constituted  the  larger  part  of  the  D.  W. 
Jones  party  that  founded  Lehi  in  March,  1877,  and  it 
was  he,  who,  soon  thereafter,  led  in  the  settlement  of  St. 


33 


David  in  the  San  Pedro  Valley,  on  the  route  of  the  Mormon 
Battalion  march.  He  died  at  San  Jose,  in  the  Gila 
Valley,  September  15,  1904. 

Pauline  Weaver,  the  principal  guide,  was  a  Frenchman, 
who  had  been  in  the  Southwest  at  least  since  1832,  when  he 
visited  the  Pima  villages  and  Casa  Grande.  In  1862,  while 
trapping,  he  was  one  of  the  discoverers  of  the  La  Paz  gold 
diggings.  The  following  year  he  was  with  the  Peeples  party 
that  found  gold  on  Rich  Hill,  in  central  Arizona.  There- 
after he  was  an  army  scout.  He  died  at  Camp  Verde  in  1866. 

Antoine  LeRoux,  the  other  guide  named,  was  with  the 
Whipple  expedition  across  northern  Arizona  in  1853.  His 
name  is  borne  by  LeRoux  Springs,  northwest  of  Flagstaff, 
and  by  LeRoux  Wash,  near  Holbrook. 

Passing  of  the  Battalion  Membership 

No  member  of  the  Mormon  Battalion  now  is  living. 
The  last  to  pass  was  Harley  Mowrey,  private  Co.  C, 
who  died  in  his  home  in  Vernal,  Utah,  October  21,  1920, 
at  the  age  of  98.  He  was  one  of  the  men  sent  from  New 
Mexico  to  Pueblo  and  who  arrived  at  Salt  Lake  a  few  days 
after  the  Pioneers.  On  the  way  to  Salt  Lake  he  married 
the  widow  of  another  Battalion  member,  Martha  Jane 
Sharp,  who  survives,  as  well  as  seven  children,  41  grand- 
children, 94  great-grandchildren  and  thirty  of  the  latest 
generation.  Mowrey  and  wife  were  members  of  the  San 
Bernardino  colony. 

A  Memorial  of  Noble  Conception 

On  the  Capitol  grounds  at  Salt  Lake  soon  is  to  arise  a 
noble  memorial  of  the  service  of  the  Mormon  Battalion. 
The  legislature  of  Utah  has  voted  toward  the  purpose 
$100,000,  contingent  upon  the  contribution  of  a  similar 
sum  at  large.  A  State  Monument  Commission  has  been 
created,  headed  by  B.  H.  Roberts,  and  this  organization 
has  been  extended  to  all  parts  of  Utah,  Idaho  and  Arizona. 

In  the  1921  session  of  the  Arizona  Legislature  was  voted 

34 


a  contribution  to  the  Battalion  Monument  Fund  of  $2500, 
this  with  expression  of  State  pride  in  the  achievement  that 
meant  so  much  to  the  Southwest  and  Pacific  Coast. 

From  nineteen  designs  submitted  have  been  selected 
the  plans  of  G.  P.  Riswold.  A  condensed  description  of 
the  monument  is  contained  in  a  report  of  the  Commission : 

The  base  is  in  triangular  form,  with  concave  sides  and  rounded 
corners.  A  bronze  figure  of  a  Battalion  man  is  mounted  upon  the  front 
corner.  Flanking  him  on  two  sides  of  the  triangle  are:  cut  in  high 
relief,  on  the  left,  the  scene  of  the  enlistment  of  the  Battalion  under 
the  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America;  on  the  right  a  scene  of  the 
march,  where  the  men  are  assisting  in  pulling  the  wagons  of  their 
train  up  and  over  a  precipitous  ascent,  while  still  others  are  ahead, 
widening  a  cut  to  permit  the  passage  of  the  wagons  between  the  out- 
jutting  rocks.  The  background  is  a  representation  of  mountains  of 
the  character  through  which  the  Battalion  and  its  train  passed  on  its 
journey  to  the  Pacific. 

Just  below  the  peak,  in  the  center  and  in  front  of  it,  is  chiseled  a 
beautiful  head  and  upper  part  of  a  woman,  symbolizing  the  "Spirit 
of  the  West."  She  personifies  the  impulsive  power  and  motive  force 
that  sustained  these  Battalion  men,  and  led  them,  as  a  vanguard  of 
civilization,  across  the  trackless  plains  and  through  the  difficult  de- 
files and  passes  of  the  mountains.  The  idea  of  the  sculptor  in  the 
"Spirit  of  the  West"  is  a  magnificent  conception  and  should  dominate 
the  whole  monument. 

The  bronze  figure  of  the  Battalion  man  is  dignified,  strong  and 
reverential.  He  excellently  typifies  that  band  of  pioneer  soldiers 
which  broke  a  way  through  the  rugged  mountains  and  over  trackless 
wastes. 

Hovering  over  and  above  him,  the  beautiful  female  figure,  with 
an  air  of  solicitous  care,  guards  him  in  his  reverie.  Her  face  stands 
out  in  full  relief,  the  hair  and  diaphanous  drapery  waft  back,  min- 
gling with  the  clouds,  while  the  figure  fades  into  dim  outline  in  the 
massive  peaks  and  mountains,  seeming  to  pervade  the  air  and  the 
soil  with  her  very  soul. 

Battalion  Men  Who  Became  Arizonans 

Of  the  Battalion  members,  33  are  known  to  have 
become  later  residents  of  Arizona,  with  addition  of  one  of 
the  women  who  had  accompanied  the  Battalion  to  Santa 
Fe  and  who  had  wintered  at  Pueblo.    There  is  gratification 

35 


over  the  fact  that  it  has  been  found  possible  to  secure 
photographs  of  nearly  all  the  33.  Reproduction  of  these 
photographs  accompanies  this  chapter.  When  this  work 
was  begun,  only  about  ten  Battalion  members  could  be 
located  as  having  been  resident  in  this  State.  Some  of  those 
who  came  back  to  Arizona  were  notable  in  their  day,  for 
all  of  them  now  have  made  the  last  march  of  humanity. 

Jas.  S.  Brown,  who  helped  find  gold  in  California,  was 
an  early  Indian  missionary  on  the  Muddy  and  in  north- 
eastern Arizona.  Edward  Bunker  founded  Bunkerville,  a 
Virgin  River  settlement,  and  later  died  on  the  San  Pedro, 
at  St.  David.  Geo.  P.  Dykes,  who  was  the  first  adjutant  of 
the  Battalion,  did  service  for  his  Church  in  1849  and  1850 
in  Great  Britain  and  Denmark.  Philemon  C.  Merrill,  who 
succeeded  Dykes  as  adjutant,  was  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent of  the  pioneers  of  the  San  Pedro  and  Gila  valleys. 
There  is  special  mention,  elsewhere,  of  Christopher  Layton. 
In  the  same  district,  at  Thatcher,  lived  and  died  Lieut. 
James  Pace.  Henry  Standage  was  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  Alma  Ward,  near  Mesa.  Lot  Smith,  one  of  the  vanguard 
in  missionary  work  in  northeastern  Arizona  and  a  leader 
in  the  settlement  of  the  Little  Colorado  Valley,  was  slain 
by  one  of  the  Indians  to  whose  service  he  had  dedicated 
himself.  Henry  W.  Brizzee  was  a  leading  pioneer  of  Mesa. 
Henry  G.  Boyle  became  the  first  president  of  the  Southern 
States  mission  of  his  church,  and  was  so  impressed  with  the 
view  he  had  of  Arizona,  in  Battalion  days,  that,  early  in 
1877,  he  sent  into  eastern  Arizona  a  party  of  Arkansas 
immigrants.  Adair,  in  southern  Navajo  County,  was 
named  after  a  Battalion  member. 

A  complete  list  of  Arizona  Battalion  members  follows : 

Wesley  Adair,  Co.  C. — Showlow. 

Rufus  C.  AHen,  Co.  A. — Las  Vegas. 

Reuben  W.  Allied,  Co.  A.— Pima. 

Mrs.  Elzada  Ford  Allred — Accompanied  husband. 

Henry  G.  Boyle,  Co.  C— Pima. 

Henry  W.  Brizzee,  Co.  D. — Mesa. 

36 


James  S.  Brown,  Co.  D, — Moen  Copie. 

Edward  Bunker,  Co.  E.— St.  David. 

George  P.  Dykes,  Co.  D. — Mesa, 

Wm.  A.  Follett,  Co.  E.— Near  Showlow. 

Schuyler  Hulett,  Co.  A. — Phoenix. 

John    Hunt — Snowflake — Accompanied   his  father,  Capt. 

Jefferson  Hunt. 
Marshall  (Martial)  Hunt,  Co.  A. — Snowflake. 
Wm.  J.  Johnston,  Co.  C. — Mesa. 
Nathaniel  V.  Jones,  Co.  D. — Las  Vegas. 
Hyrum  Judd,  Co.  E. — Sunset  and  Pima. 
Zadok  Judd,  Co.  E. — Fredonia. 
Christopher  Layton,  Co.  C. — Thatcher. 
Samuel  Lewis,  Co.  C. — Thatcher. 
Wm.  B.  Maxwell,  Co.  D. — SpringervUle. 
Wm.  C.  McClellan,  Co.  E.— Sunset. 
Philemon  C.  Merrill,  Co.  B. — Pima. 
James  Pace,  Co.  E. — Thatcher. 
Wilson  D.  Pace,  Co.  E.— Thatcher. 
Sanford  Porter,  Co.  E. — Sunset. 
Wm.  C.  Prous  (Prows),  Co.  B. — Mesa. 
David  Pulsipher,  Co.  C. — Concho. 
Samuel  H.  Rogers,  Co.  B. — Snowflake. 
Henry  Standage,  Co.  E. — Mesa. 
George  E.  Steele,  Co.  A. — Mesa. 
John  Steele,  Co.  D. — Moen  Copie. 
Lot  Smith,  Co.  E. — Sunset  and  Tuba. 
Samuel  Thompson,  Co.  C. — Mesa. 


37 


<^13. 


Chapter  Four 


Olaltfantm  0  ^ormmt  pUgrmts 

The  Brooklyn  Party  at  San  Francisco 

The  members  of  the  Mormon  Battalion  were  far  from 
being  the  first  of  their  faith  to  tread  the  golden  sands  of 
California.  Somehow,  in  the  divine  ordering  of  things 
mundane,  the  Mormons  generally  were  very  near  the  van 
of  Anglo-Saxon  settlement  of  the  States  west  of  the  Rockies. 
Thus  it  happened  that  on  July  29,  1846,  only  three  weeks 
after  the  American  naval  occupation  of  the  harbor,  there 
anchored  inside  the  Golden  Gate  the  good  ship  Brooklyn, 
that  had  brought  from  New  York  238  passengers,  mainly 
Saints,  the  first  American  contribution  of  material  size  to 
the  population  of  the  embarcadero  of  Yerba  Buena,  where 
now  is  the  lower  business  section  of  the  stately  city  of 
San  Francisco. 

The  Brooklyn,  of  450  tons  burden,  had  sailed  from  New 
York  February  4,  1846,  the  date  happening  to  be  the  same 
as  that  on  which  began  the  exodus  from  Nauvoo  westward. 
The  voyage  was  an  authorized  expedition,  counseled  by 
President  Brigham  Young  and  his  advisers  in  the  early 
winter.  At  one  time  it  was  expected  that  thousands  would 
take  the  water  route  to  the  west  shore,  on  their  way  to  the 
Promised  Land.  Elder  Samuel  Brannan  was  in  charge  of 
the  first  company,  which  mainly  consisted  of  American 
farmer  folk  from  the  eastern  and  middle-western  States. 
The  ship  had  been  chartered  for  $1200  a  month  and  port 
charges.  Fare  had  been  set  at  $50  for  all  above  fourteen 
years  and  half-fare  for  children  above  five.  Addition  was 
made  of  $25  for  provisions.      The  passengers  embraced 

38 


seventy  men,  68  women  and  about  100  children.  There  was 
a  freight  of  farming  implements  and  tools,  seeds,  a  printing 
press,  many  school  books,  etc. 

The  voyage  appears  to  have  been  even  a  pleasant  one, 
though  with  a  few  notations  of  sickness,  deaths  and  births 
and  of  trials  that  set  a  small  number  of  the  passengers 
aside  from  the  Church.  Around  Cape  Horn  and  as  far  as 
the  Robinson  Crusoe  island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  off  the 
Chilian  coast,  the  seas  were  calm.  Thereafter  were  two 
storms  of  serious  sort,  but  without  phase  of  disaster  to  the 
pilgrims.  The  next  stop  was  at  Honolulu,  on  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  thence  the  course  being  fair  for  the  Golden  Gate. 

When  Captain  Richardson  dropped  his  anchors  in  the 
cove  of  Yerba  Buena  it  appears  to  have  been  the  first  time 
that  the  emigrants  appreciated  they  had  arrived  at  any- 
thing save  a  colony  of  old  Mexico.  But  when  a  naval 
officer  boarded  the  ship  and  advised  the  passengers  they 
were  in  the  United  States,  "there  arose  a  hearty  cheer," 
though  Brannan  has  been  quoted  as  hardly  pleased  over 
the  sight  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

Beginnings  of  a  Great  City 

As  written  by  Augusta  Joyce  Cocheron,  one  of  the 

emigrants : 

They  crowded  upon  the  deck,  women  and  children,  questioning 
husbands  and  fathers,  and  studied  the  picture  before  them — they 
would  never  see  it  just  the  same  again — as  the  foggy  curtains  furled 
towards  the  azure  ceiling.  How  it  imprinted  itself  upon  their  minds! 
A  long  sandy  beach  strewn  with  hides  and  skeletons  of  slaught€red 
cattle,  a  few  scrubby  oaks,  farther  back  low  sand  hills  rising  behind 
each  other  as  a  background  to  a  few  old  shanties  that  leaned  away  from 
the  wind,  an  old  adobe  barracks,  a  few  donkeys  plodding  dejectedly 
along  beneath  towering  bundles  of  wood,  a  few  loungers  stretched 
lazily  upon  the  beach  as  though  nothing  could  astonish  them;  and 
between  the  picture  and  the  emigrants  still  loomed  up  here  and  there, 
at  the  first  sight  more  distinctly,  the  black  vessels — whaling  ships 
and  sloops  of  war — that  was  all,  and  that  was  Yerba  Buena,  now 
San  Francisco,  the  landing  place  for  the  pilgrims  of  faith. 

In  John  P.  Young's ''Journalism  in  California"  is  recited : 

39 


It  is  not  without  significance  that  the  awakening  of  Yerba  Buena 
did  not  occur  till  the  advent  of  the  printing  press.  From  the  day 
when  Leese  built  his  store  in  1836  till  the  arrival  of  the  Mormon  colony 
on  July  31,  1846,  the  village  retained  all  the  peculiarities  of  a  poverty- 
stricken  settlement  of  the  Spanish-American  type.  From  that  time 
forward  changes  began  to  occur  indicative  of  advancement  and  it  is 
impossible  to  disassociate  them  from  the  fact  that  a  part  of  the  Brook- 
lyn's cargo  was  a  press  and  a  font  of  type,  and  that  the  238  colonists 
aboard  that  vessel  and  others  who  found  their  way  to  the  little  town, 
brought  with  them  books — more,  one  careful  writer  tells  us,  than  could 
be  found  at  the  time  in  all  the  rest  of  the  Territory  put  together. 

Brannan  and  his  California  Star  had  a  part  in  the  very 
naming  of  San  Francisco.  This  occurred  January  30,  1847, 
rather  hurried  by  discovery  of  the  fact  that  a  rival  settle- 
ment on  the  upper  bay  proposed  to  take  the  name.  So 
there  was  formal  announcement  in  the  Star  that,  from  that 
date  forward,  there  would  be  abandonment  of  the  name 
Yerba  Buena,  as  local  and  appertaining  only  to  the  cove, 
and  adoption  of  the  name  of  San  Francisco.  This  announce- 
ment was  signed  by  the  Alcalde,  Lieut.  Washington  A. 
Bartlett,  who  had  been  detached  by  Capt.  J.  B.  Mont- 
gomery from  the  man-of-war  Portsmouth  on  September  15, 
1846,  and  who  rejoined  his  ship  the  following  February. 

One  of  the  Brooklyn's  passengers  in  later  years  became 
a  leader  in  the  settlement  of  Mesa,  Arizona.  He  was  Geo. 
W.  Sirrine,  a  millwright,  whose  history  has  been  preserved 
by  a  son,  Warren  L.  Sirrine  of  Mesa.  The  elder  Sirrine  was 
married  on  the  ship,  of  which  and  its  voyage  he  left  many 
interesting  tales,  one  being  of  a  drift  to  the  southward  on 
beating  around  Cape  Horn,  till  icebergs  loomed  and  the 
men  had  to  be  detailed  to  the  task  of  beating  the  rigging 
with  clubs  to  rid  it  of  ice.  When  danger  threatened  there 
was  resort  to  prayer,  but  work  soon  followed  as  the  pas- 
sengers bore  a  hand  with  the  crew. 

Sirrine,  who  had  had  police  experience  in  the  East,  was 
of  large  assistance  to  Brannan  in  San  Francisco,  where  the 
rougher  element  for  a  time  seized  control,  taking  property 
at  will  and  shooting  down  all  who  might  disagree  with  their 

40 


sway.  It  was  he  who  arrested  Jack  Powers,  leader  of  the 
outlaws,  in  a  meeting  that  was  being  addressed  by  Brannan, 
and  who  helped  in  the  provision  of  evidence  under  which 
the  naval  authorities  eUminated  over  fifty  of  the  desperados, 
some  of  them  shipping  on  the  war  vessels  in  port.  Some 
of  the  Mormons  still  had  a  part  of  their  passage  money 
unpaid  and  these  promptly  proceeded  to  find  employment 
to  satisfy  their  debt.  The  pilgrims'  loyalty  appears  to  have 
been  of  the  highest.  They  had  purchased  arms  in  Hono- 
lulu and  had  had  some  drill  on  the  passage  thence.  At  least 
on  one  occasion,  they  rallied  in  San  Francisco  when  alarm 
sounded  that  hostile  Mexicans  might  attack. 

According  to  Eldridge,  historian  of  San  Francisco: 
The  landing  of  the  Mormons  more  than  doubled  the  population 
of  Yerba  Buena.  They  camped  for  a  time  on  the  beach  and  the 
vacant  lots,  then  some  went  to  the  Marin  forests  to  work  as  lumber- 
men, some  were  housed  in  the  old  Mission  buildings  and  others  in 
Richardson's  Casa  Grande  (big  house)  on  Dupont  Street.  They 
were  honest  and  industrious  people  and  all  sought  work  wherever 
they  could  find  it. 

Brannan's  Hope  of  Pacific  Empire 

A  party  of  twenty  pioneers  was  sent  over  to  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley,  to  found  the  settlement  of  New  Hope,  or 
Stanislaus  City,  on  the  lower  Stanislaus  River,  but  the 
greater  number  for  a  while  remained  on  the  bay,  making 
San  Francisco,  according  to  Bancroft,  "for  a  time  very 
largely  a  Mormon  town.  All  bear  witness  to  the  orderly 
and  moral  conduct  of  the  Saints,  both  on  land  and  sea. 
They  were  honest  and  industrious  citizens,  even  if  clannish 
and  peculiar."  There  was  some  complaint  against  Brannan, 
charged  with  working  the  Church  membership  for  his  own 
personal  benefit. 

New  Hope  had  development  that  comprised  a  log  house, 
a  sawmill  and  the  cultivation  of  eighty  acres  of  land.  It  was 
abandoned  in  the  fall,  after  word  had  been  received  that  the 
main  body  of  the  Saints,  traveling  overland,  would  settle 
in  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.   Brannan  pushed  with 

41 


vigor  his  idea  that  the  proper  location  would  be  in  Cali- 
fornia. He  started  eastward  to  present  this  argument  and 
met  the  western  migration  at  Green  River  in  July,  and  un- 
successfully argued  with  Brigham  Young,  returning  with 
the  vanguard  as  far  as  Salt  Lake.  His  return  to  San  Fran- 
cisco was  in  September,  on  his  way  there  being  encounter 
with  several  parties  from  the  Mormon  Battalion,  to  them 
Brannan  communicating  rather  gloomy  ideas  concerning 
the  new  site  of  Zion. 

It  is  one  of  the  many  remarkable  evidences  of  the 
strength  of  the  Mormon  religious  spirit  that  only  45  adults 
of  the  Brooklyn  party,  with  their  children,  remained  in 
California,  even  after  the  discovery  of  gold.  The  others 
made  their  way  across  the  Sierra  Nevadas  and  the  deserts, 
to  join  their  people  in  the  intermountain  valley.  A  few  were 
cut  off  from  the  Church.  These  included  Brannan,  who 
gathered  large  wealth,  but  who  died,  poor,  in  Mexico,  in  1889. 

There  might  be  speculation  over  what  would  have  been 
the  fate  of  the  Mormon  Church  had  Brannan's  idea  pre- 
vailed and  the  tide  of  the  Nauvoo  exodus  continued  to 
California.  Probably  the  individual  pilgrims  thereby  might 
have  amassed  worldly  wealth.  Possibly  there  might  have 
been  established  in  the  California  valleys  even  richer 
Mormon  settlements  than  those  that  now  dot  the  map  of 
the  intermountain  region.  But  that  such  a  course  would 
have  been  relatively  disruptive  of  the  basic  plans  of  the 
leaders  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  it  is  also  without 
doubt  that  under  a  condition  of  greater  material  wealth 
there  would  have  been  diminished  spiritual  interest. 

Possibly  even  better  was  the  grasp  upon  the  people 
shown  in  Utah  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  California 
emigrants,  in  trains  of  hypnotized  groups  all  crazed  by  lust 
for  the  gold  assumed  to  be  in  California  for  the  gathering. 
The  Mormons  sold  them  provisions  and  helped  them  on 
their  way,  yet  added  few  to  their  numbers. 

In  after  years,  President  Lorenzo  Snow,  referring  to 

42 


the  Brannan  effort,  stated  his  behef  that  it  would  have  been 
nothing  short  of  disastrous  to  the  Church  had  the  people 
gone  to  California  before  they  had  become  grounded  in  the 
faith.  They  needed  just  the  experiences  they  had  had  in 
the  valley  of  Salt  Lake,  where  home-making  was  the  pre- 
dominant thought  and  where  wealth  later  came  on  a  more 
permanent  basis. 
Present  at  the  Discovery  of  Gold 

By  a  remarkable  freak  of  fortune,  about  forty  of  the 
members  of  the  Mormon  BattaHon  discharged  at  Los 
Angeles,  were  on  hand  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California.  Divided  into  companies,  they  had  made  their 
way  northward,  expecting  to  pass  the  Sierras  before  the 
coming  of  snow.  They  found  work  at  Sutter's  Fort  and 
nearby  in  the  building  of  a  sawmill  and  a  grist-mill  and 
six  of  them  (out  of  nine  employees)  actually  participated 
in  the  historic  picking  up  of  chunks  of  gold  from  the  tail- 
race  they  had  dug  under  the  direction  of  J.  W.  Marshall. 
Sutter  in  after  years  wrote:  "The  Mormons  did  not  leave 
my  mill  unfinished,  but  they  got  the  gold  fever  Uke  every- 
body else."  They  mined  especially  on  what,  to  this  day, 
is  known  as  Mormon  Island,  on  the  American  River,  and 
undoubtedly  the  wealth  they  later  took  across  the  moun- 
tains did  much  toward  laying  a  substantial  foundation 
for  the  Zion  established  in  the  wilderness. 

Henry  W.  Bigler,  of  the  gold  discovery  party,  kept  a 
careful  journal  of  his  California  experiences,  a  journal  from 
which  Bancroft  makes  many  excerpts.  An  odd  error  is  in 
the  indexing  of  the  Bancroft  volumes  on  California,  Henry 
W.  Bigler  being  confused  with  John  Bigler.  The  latter  was 
governor  of  Cahfornia  in  1852-55.  A  truckling  California 
legislature  unsuccessfully  tried  to  fasten  his  name  upon 
Lake  Tahoe.  But  the  Mormon  pioneer  turned  his  back 
upon  the  golden  sands  after  only  a  few  months  of  digging, 
and  later,  for  years,  was  connected  with  the  Mormon 
temple  at  St.  George,  Utah. 

43 


January  24,  1898,  four  of  the  six  returned  to  San 
Francisco,  guests  of  the  State  of  CaUfornia  in  its  celebra- 
tion of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  gold. 
They  were  Henry  W.  Bigler,  Jas.  S.  Brown,  Wm.  J.  John- 
ston and  Azariah  Smith.  A  group  photograph,  then  taken, 
is  reproduced  in  this  volume.  The  others  of  the  Mormon 
gold  discoverers,  Alexander  Stephens  and  James  Barger, 
had  died  before  that  date. 

Looking  Toward  Southern  California 

All  through  the  Church  administration  led  by  Brigham 
Young  there  was  evidence  of  well-defined  intention  to  spread 
the  Church  influence  southward  into  Mexico  and,  possibly 
tracking  back  the  steps  of  the  Nephites  and  Lamanites, 
to  work  even  into  South  America.  There  seemed  an  at- 
traction in  the  enormous  agricultural  possibilities  of  South- 
ern California.  The  long-headed  Church  President,  figuring 
the  commercial  and  agricultural  advantages  that  lay  in 
the  Southwest,  practically  paved  the  way  for  the  connec- 
tion that  since  has  come  by  rail  with  Los  Angeles.  It 
naturally  resulted  that  the  old  Spanish  trail  that  had  been 
traversed  by  Dominguez  and  Escalante  in  1776  was  ex- 
tended on  down  the  Virgin  River  toward  the  southwest  and 
soon  became  known  as  the  Mormon  Road.  Over  this  road 
there  was  much  travel.  It  was  taken  by  emigrants  bound 
from  the  East  for  California  and  proved  the  safest  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year.  It  was  used  by  the  Mormons  in  re- 
stocking their  herds  and  in  securing  supplies  and  for  a  while 
there  was  belief  that  the  Colorado  River  could  be  utilized 
as  a  means  of  connecting  steamboat  transportation  with  the 
wagons  that  should  haul  from  Callville,  350  miles  from 
Salt  Lake. 

In  1851,  nearly  four  years  after  the  settlement  at  Salt 
Lake,  President  Young  made  suggestion  that  a  company 
be  organized,  of  possibly  a  score  of  families,  to  settle  below 
Cajon  Pass  and  cultivate  the  grape,  olive,  sugar  cane  and 
cotton  and  to  found  a  station  on  a  proposed  Pacific  mail 

44 


route.  There  was  expectation  that  the  settlement  later 
would  be  a  gathering  place  for  the  Saints  who  might  come 
from  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  even  from  Europe.  The 
idea  proved  immensely  popular,  the  suggestion  having 
come  after  a  typical  Salt  Lake  winter,  and  the  pilgrimage 
embraced  about  500  individuals.  President  Young,  at  the 
time  of  their  leaving,  March  24,  said  he  "was  sick  at  the 
sight  of  so  many  Saints  running  to  California,  chiefly  after 
the  gods  of  this  earth"  and  he  expressed  himself  unable  to 
address  them.    Arrival  at  San  Bernardino  was  in  June. 

The  Author  has  been  fortunate  in  securing  personal  tes- 
timony from  a  member  of  this  migration,  Collins  R.  Hakes, 
who  later  was  President  of  the  Maricopa  Stake  at  Mesa, 
and,  later,  head  of  the  Bluewater  settlement  in  New 
Mexico.  The  hegira  was  led  by  Amasa  M.  Lyman  and 
Chas.  C.  Rich,  prominent  Mormon  pioneers. 

A  short  distance  below  Cajon  Pass,  Lyman  and  Rich 
in  September  purchased  the  Lugo  ranch  of  nine  square 
leagues,  including  an  abandoned  mission.  They  agreed  to 
pay  $77,500  in  deferred  payments,  though  the  total  sum 
rose  eventually  to  $140,000.  Even  at  that,  this  must  be 
accounted  a  very  reasonable  price  for  nearly  thirty  square 
miles  of  land  in  the  present  wonderful  valley  of  San 
Bernardino. 

Forced  From  the  Southland 

With  those  of  the  Carson  Valley,  the  California  breth- 
ren mainly  returned  to  Utah,  late  in  1857,  or  early  in  1858, 
at  the  time  of  the  Johnston  invasion.  Mr.  Hakes  gave 
additional  details.  On  September  11,  1857,  occurred  the 
Mountain  Meadows  massacre  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
Utah.  This  outrage,  by  a  band  of  outlaws,  emphatically 
discountenanced  by  the  Church  authorities  and  repugnant 
to  Church  doctrines,  which  denounce  useless  shedding  of 
blood,  was  promptly  charged,  on  the  Pacific  and,  indeed, 
all  over  the  Union,  as  something  for  which  the  Mormon 
organization  itself  was  responsible.   So  it  happened  that,  in 

45 


December,  1857,  J.  Riley  Morse,  of  the  colony,  rode 
southward  post  haste  from  Sacraraento  with  the  news  that 
200  mountain  vigilantes  were  on  their  way  to  run  the  Mor- 
mons out  of  Cahfornia.  Not  wishing  to  fight  and  not 
wishing  to  subject  their  families  to  abuse,  about  400  of  the 
San  Bernardino  settlers,  within  a  few  weeks,  started  for 
southern  Utah,  leaving  only  about  twenty  families.  The 
news  of  this  departure  went  to  the  Californians  and  they 
returned  to  their  homes  without  completing  their  pro- 
jected purpose.  Many  Church  and  coast  references  tell  of 
the  "recair*  of  the  San  Bernardino  settlers,  but  Hakes* 
story  appears  ample  in  furnishing  a  reason  for  the  depar- 
ture. Many  of  these  San  Bernardino  pioneers  later  came 
into  Arizona.  Those  who  remained  prospered,  and  many  of 
the  families  still  are  represented  by  descendants  now  in 
the  Californian  city.  The  settlement  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  agricultural  colony  founded  by  persons  of 
Anglo-Saxon  descent  in  Southern  California. 

How  Sirrine  Saved  the  Gold 

Geo.  W.  Sirrine,  later  of  Mesa,  had  an  important  part 
in  the  details  of  the  San  Bernardino  ranch  purchase.  Amasa 
M.  Lyman  and  Chas.  C.  Rich  went  to  San  Francisco  for 
the  money  needed  for  the  first  payment.  They  selected 
Sirrine  to  be  their  money  carrier,  entrusting  him  with 
$16,000,  much  of  it  in  gold,  the  money  presumably  secured 
through  Brannan.  Sirrine  took  ship  southward  for  San 
Pedro  or  Wilmington,  carrying  a  carpenter  chest  in  which 
the  money  was  concealed  in  a  pair  of  rubber  boots,  which 
he  threw  on  the  deck,  with  apparent  carelessness,  while 
his  effects  were  searched  by  a  couple  of  very  rough  charac- 
ters. Delivery  of  the  money  was  made  without  further 
incident  of  note.  Sirrine  helped  survey  the  San  Bernardino 
townsite,  built  a  grist  mill  and  operated  it,  logged  at  Bear 
Lake  and  freighted  on  the  Mormon  road.  Charles  Crismon, 
a  skillful  miller,  also  a  central  Arizona  pioneer,  for  a  while 
was  associated  with  him.    Crismon  also  built  a  sawmill  in 

46 


nearby  mountains.  Sirrine  spent  his  San  Bernardino 
earnings,  about  $10,000,  in  attempted  development  of  a 
seam  of  coal  on  Point  Loma,  near  San  Diego,  sinking  a 
shaft  183  feet  deep.  He  left  California  in  1858,  taking  with 
him  to  Salt  Lake  a  wagonload  of  honey.  In  a  biography 
of  Charles  Crismon,  Jr.,  is  found  a  claim  that  the  elder 
Crismon  took  the  first  bees  to  Utah,  from  San  Bernardino, 
in  1863.  This  may  have  added  importance  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  Utah  now  is  known  as  the  Beehive  State. 


47 


Chapter  Fice 


®I|e  ^tate  of  ^tmxti 

A  Vast  Intermountain  Commonwealth 

Probably  unknown  to  a  majority  of  Arizonans  is  the 
fact  that  the  area  of  this  State  once  was  included  within 
the  State  of  Deseret,  the  domain  the  early  Mormons  laid 
out  for  themselves  in  the  western  wilds.  The  State  of 
Deseret  was  a  natural  sort  of  entity,  with  a  governor,  with 
courts,  peace  officers  and  a  mihtia.  It  was  a  great  dream, 
yet  a  dream  that  had  being  and  substance  for  a  material 
stretch  of  time.  Undoubtedly  its  conception  was  with  Brig- 
ham  Young,  whose  prophetic  vision  pictured  the  day  when, 
under  Mormon  auspices,  there  would  be  development  of 
the  entire  enormous  basin  of  the  Colorado  Paver,  with 
seaports  on  the  Pacific.  The  name  was  not  based  upon  the 
word  "desert."  It  is  a  Book  of  Mormon  designation  for 
"honey  bee.*' 

This  State  of  Deseret  was  a  strictly  Mormon  institu- 
tion, headed  by  the  Church  authorities  and  with  the  bishops 
of  all  the  wards  ex-officio  magistrates.  At  the  same  time, 
there  should  be  understanding  that  in  nowise  was  it  an- 
tagonistic to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
a  grand  plan,  under  which  there  was  hope  that,  with  a 
population  at  the  time  of  about  15,000,  there  might  be 
admission  of  the  intermountain  region  into  the  union  of 
States. 

The  movement  for  the  new  State  started  with  a  call 
issued  in  1849,  addressed  to  all  citizens  of  that  portion  of 
California  lying  east  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 
There  was  a  convention  in  March,  probably  attended  by 

48 


very  few  outside  the  Church,  despite  the  broadness  of  the 
plan.  In  the  preamble  of  the  constitution  adopted  there 
was  recitation  that  Congress  had  failed  to  provide  any- 
civil  government,  so  necessary  for  the  peace,  security  and 
prosperity  of  society,  that  "all  political  power  is  inherent 
in  the  people,  and  governments  instituted  for  their  pro- 
tection, security  and  benefit  should  emanate  from  the  same." 
Therefore,  there  was  recommendation  of  a  constitution 
until  the  Congress  should  provide  other  government  and 
admit  the  new  State  into  the  Union.  There  was  expression 
of  gratitude  to  the  Supreme  Being  for  blessings  enjoyed 
and  submission  to  the  national  government  freely  was 
acknowledged. 

Boundary  Lines  Established 

Deseret  was  to  have  boundaries  as  follows: 

Commencing  at  the  33d  parallel  of  north  latitude,  where  it  crosses 
the  108th  deg.  of  longitude  west  of  Greenwich;  thence  running  south 
and  west  to  the  boundary  of  Mexico;  thence  west  to  and  down  the  main 
channel  of  the  Gila  River  (or  the  northern  line  of  Mexico),  and  on  the 
northern  boundary  of  Lower  California  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  thence 
along  the  coast  northwesterly  to  118  degrees,  30  minutes  of  west 
longitude;  thence  north  to  where  said  line  intersects  the  dividing 
ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains;  thence  north  along  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  to  the  dividing  range  of  moun- 
tains that  separate  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Columbia  from  the 
waters  running  into  the  Great  Basin;  thence  easterly  along  the  divid- 
ing range  of  mountains  that  separate  said  waters  flowing  into  the 
Columbia  River  on  the  north,  from  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Great 
Basin  on  the  south,  to  the  summit  of  the  Wind  River  chain  of  mountains; 
thence  southeast  and  south  by  the  dividing  range  of  mountains  that 
separate  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  the  waters 
flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  to  the  place  of  beginning,  as  set 
forth  in  a  map  drawn  by  Charles  Preuss,  and  published  by  order  of 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  1848. 

This  description  needs  some  explanation.  The  point  of 
beginning,  as  set  forth,  was  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Gila 
River  near  the  Mexican  line,  which  then,  and  until  the  Gads- 
den Purchase  in  1854,  followed  down  the  Gila  River  to  the 


49 


Colorado.  At  that  time  the  boundary  between  Upper  and 
Lower  Cahfornia  had  been  established  to  the  point  below 
San  Diego,  which  thus  became  included  within  the  terri- 
tory claimed.  Here,  naturally,  there  was  inclusion  of 
practically  all  Southern  California  to  a  point  near  Santa 
Barbara.  Thence  the  line  ran  northward  and  inland  to  the 
summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  not  far  from  Mt.  Whitney. 
It  followed  the  Sierra  Nevadas  to  the  northwestward,  well 
within  the  present  Cahfornia  line,  up  into  northwestern 
Nevada,  thence  eastward  through  southern  Idaho  and 
Wyoming  to  about  South  Pass,  where  the  eastern  line  was 
taken  up  southward,  along  the  summit  of  the  Rockies  to 
the  point  of  beginning.  So,  there  was  general  inclusion  of 
that  part  of  California  lying  east  of  the  Sierras,  of  all  south- 
ern California,  all  Nevada  and  Utah,  the  southern  por- 
tions of  Oregon  and  Idaho,  southwestern  Wyoming,  western 
Colorado,  not  reaching  as  far  as  Denver,  western  New 
Mexico  and  all  Arizona  north  of  the  Gila. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  region  embraced, 
probably  too  large  for  a  State  under  modern  conditions, 
at  that  time  was  as  logical  a  division  as  could  have  been 
made,  considering  the  semi-arid  climatic  conditions,  natural 
boundaries,  generally  by  great  mountain  ranges,  a  single 
watershed,  that  of  the  Colorado  River,  and,  in  addition  to 
all  these,  the  highway  outlet  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  to  the 
southwest,  through  a  country  where  the  mountains  broke 
away,  along  the  course  of  the  Colorado,  even  then  demon- 
strated the  most  feasible  route  from  Great  Salt  Lake  City 
to  the  ocean. 

Segregation  of  the  Western  Territories 

At  no  time  was  there  more  than  assumption  by  this 
central  Salt  Lake  government  of  authority  over  any  part 
of  the  area  of  the  State  of  Deseret,  save  within  the  central 
Utah  district,  where  the  settlers,  less  than  two  years  estab- 
lished, were  striving  to  carve  out  homes  in  what  was  to  be 
the  nucleus  of  this  commonwealth  of  wondrous  proportions. 

50 


Chapter  Six 


Old  Spanish  Trail  Through  Utah 

There  can  be  little  more  than  speculation  concerning 
the  extent  of  the  use  of  the  old  Spanish  Trail,  through 
southern  Utah,  by  the  Spaniards.  It  is  known,  however, 
that  considerable  travel  passed  over  it  between  Santa  Fe 
and  the  California  missions  and  settlements.  In  winter 
there  was  the  disadvantage  of  snow  in  the  Rockies  and  in 
summer  were  the  aridity  and  heat  of  the  Mohave  desert. 
In  Utah  was  danger  from  the  Utes  and  farther  westward 
from  the  Paiutes,  but  expeditions  went  well  armed  and 
exercised  incessant  watchfulness. 

The  much  more  direct  route  across  Arizona  on  the  35th 
parallel  was  used  by  few  Spaniards,  though  assuredly 
easier  than  that  northward  around  the  Canyon  of  the 
Colorado  River.  This  direct  route  was  traversed  in  1598 
by  Juan  de  Onate,  New  Mexico's  first  Spanish  governor, 
and,  in  1776,  Father  Garces  went  from  the  Colorado  east- 
ward to  the  Hopi  villages.  There  was  travel  over  what 
became  known  as  the  *'Road  of  the  Bishop"  from  Santa  Fe 
to  the  Zuni  and  Hopi  towns,  but  not  beyond.  Possibly  the 
preference  for  the  San  Juan-Virgin  route  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  had  practicable  river  fords. 

This  old  Spanish  Trail  from  Santa  Fe  to  Los  Angeles, 
undoubtedly  was  over  a  succession  of  aboriginal  highways. 
The  first  Europeans  to  follow  it  were  the  Franciscan  friars 
Escalante  and  Dominguez,  in  1776.  They  took  a  route 
running  northwest  from  Taos,  New  Mexico,  through  the 
San  Juan    country  into  Utah  as  far  as  Utah  Lake,  not 

53 


reaching  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  thence  to  the  southwest 
through  the  Sevier  Valley  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Virgin 
hoping  to  work  through  to  California.  They  had  an  in- 
telUgent  idea  concerning  the  extent  of  the  Grand  Canyon 
of  the  Colorado  and  knew  there  could  be  no  crossing  for 
several  hundred  miles.  After  traveUng  down  the  Santa 
Clara  and  Virgin  to  about  where  the  Arizona  line  now  is, 
they  turned  eastward  again,  probably  because  of  lack  of 
supplies  and  fear  of  the  desert.  Their  travel  eastward  was 
not  far  from  the  37th  parallel  on  either  side  and  their 
Indian  guides  finally  led  them,  by  way  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Paria,  to  the  Ute  ford  of  the  Colorado,  now  known  as 
the  Crossing  of  the  Fathers.  Thence,  crossing  the  river 
November  8,  1776,  they  made  their  way  to  the  Hopi 
villages  and  back  to  the  Rio  Grande,  finishing  one  of  the 
most  notable  exploring  trips  ever  known  in  the  west.  It 
is  interesting  to  consider  how,  nearly  a  century  later,  the 
"Pathfinder,"  John  C.  Fremont,  thought  himself  on  a  new 
line  of  discovery  when  he  took  much  the  same  road  west- 
ward through  the  passes  of  the  Rockies. 

This  Spanish  Trail  is  outlined  on  a  fur-trade  map  in  the 
Bancroft  Library,  covering  the  period  from  1807  to  1843. 
No  road  is  marked  across  the  present  area  of  Arizona.  The 
Spanish  Trail  seems  to  have  been  considered  as  the  western 
extension  of  the  Santa  Fe  Trail. 

The  famous  old  traveler,  Jedediah  Smith,  in  1826  and 
1827,  journeyed  by  the  Sevier  and  Virgin  River  route  to  the 
Colorado  River,  though  he  appears  to  have  made  his  own 
way,  paralleling  the  aboriginal  highway.  In  August  of 
1827,  a  number  of  his  party  were  killed  by  Mohave  Indians 
on  the  Colorado  River. 

Creation  of  the  Mormon  Road 

The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  gave  very  great 
added  importance  to  this  southern  Utah  route.  When  the 
Washoe  passes  were  closed  by  snow,  California  travel  by 
the  plains  route  necessarily  was  diverted,  either  around  by 

54 


Oregon  or  southward  through  the  Virgin  River  section. 
The  latter  route  appears  to  have  been  safe  enough  in  winter, 
save  for  occasional  attacks  by  Indians,  who  were  bent  more 
upon  plunder  than  upon  murder.  Occasionally,  parties 
sought  a  shorter  cut  to  the  westward  and  suffered  disaster 
in  the  sands  of  the  Amargosa  desert  or  of  Death  Valley. 
Sometimes  such  men  as  Jacob  Hamblin  were  detailed  to  act 
as  guides,  but  this  seemed  to  be  more  needed  with  respect 
to  deahngs  with  the  Indians  than  to  show  the  road,  as  the 
highway  was  a  plain  one  through  to  San  Bernardino  and 
San  Gabriel.  Of  summers,  undoubtedly  the  travel  was 
much  lessened,  as  the  goldseekers  chose  the  much  more 
direct  and  better-watered  routes  passing  either  north  or 
south  of  Lake  Tahoe,  by  Donner  Lake  and  Emigrant  Gap 
or  by  the  Placerville  grade. 

The  western  end  of  the  southern  Utah-Nevada  trail, 
after  the  establishment  of  the  San  Bernardino  colony,  soon 
became  known  as  the  Mormon  road,  a  name  preserved. 

Mail  service  was  known  over  the  old  Spanish  or  Mormon 
Trail,  down  the  Virgin  and  to  Los  Angeles,  at  different  times 
between  1850  and  186L  This  service  seems  to  have  been 
as  an  alternative  when  the  passes  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas 
were  closed.  The  best  evidence  at  hand  concerning  this 
route  is  contained  within  a  claim  made  by  one  Chorpending, 
for  compensation  from  the  United  States  for  mules  and 
equipment  stolen  by  Indians  in  1854-1856.  John  Hunt, 
later  of  Snowflake,  carried  mail  on  the  route  in  1856  and 
1857.  There  must  be  assumption  that  stage  stations  were 
maintained  on  the  Muddy  and  at  Vegas. 

With  the  Lyman  and  Rich  expedition,  in  1851,  one  of 
the  wagons  bore  Apostle  Parley  P.  Pratt  who,  accompanied 
by  Rufus  C.  Allen,  was  starting  upon  a  mission  to  the 
southwest  coast  of  South  America.  On  May  13,  there  was 
note  of  encampment  at  "a  large  spring,  usually  called  Las 
Vegas,''  after  having  traveled  200  miles  through  worthless 
desert  and  between  mountains  of  naked  rock. 


55 


Mormon  Settlement  at  Tubac 

To  Commissioner  John  R.  Bartlett,  of  the  International 
Boundary  Survey,  the  Author  is  indebted  for  a  memoran- 
dum covering  what  clearly  was  the  first  Mormon  settle- 
ment within  the  present  confines  of  Arizona.  It  was  at  the 
old  Spanish  pueblo  of  Tubac,  in  the  Santa  Cruz  valley, 
about  forty  miles  south  of  Tucson.  Both  places  then  (in 
July,  1852),  still  were  in  Mexico,  the  time  being  two  years 
before  perfecting  the  Gadsden  Purchase. 

Tubac,  according  to  the  Commissioner,  was  "a  collection 
of  dilapidated  buildings  and  huts,  about  half  tenantless,  and 
an  equally  ruinous  church."  He  called  it  "a  God-forsaken 
place,"  but  gave  some  interesting  history.  After  a  century 
and  a  half  of  occupation,  usually  with  a  population  of  about 
400,  it  had  been  abandoned  a  year  before  the  Commission- 
er's arrival,  but  had  been  repopulated  by  possibly  100 
individuals.  There  was  irrigation  from  the  Santa  Cruz,  but 
of  uncertain  sort,  and  it  was  this  very  uncertainty  that  lost 
to  Arizona  a  community  of  settlers  of  industry  surely  rare 
in  that  locality.    Bartlett's  narrative  recites: 

The  preceding  fall  (of  1851),  after  the  place  has  been  again  occu- 
pied, a  party  of  Mormons,  in  passing  through  on  their  way  to  Cali- 
fornia, was  induced  to  stop  there  by  the  representations  of  the  Mexican 
comandante.  He  offered  them  lands  in  the  rich  valley,  where  acequias 
(irrigation  ditches)  were  already  dug,  if  they  would  remain  and  culti- 
vate it;  assuring  them  that  they  would  find  a  ready  market  for  all  the 
corn,  wheat  and  vegetables  they  could  raise,  from  the  troops  and 
from  passing  emigrants.  The  offer  was  so  good  and  the  prospects 
were  so  flattering  that  they  consented  to  remain.  They,  therefore, 
set  to  work,  plowed  and  sowed  their  lands,  in  which  they  expended 
all  their  means,  anticipating  an  abundant  harvest.  But  the  spring 
and  summer  came  without  rain:  the  river  dried  up;  their  fields 
could  not  be  irrigated;  and  their  labor,  time  and  money  was  lost. 
They  abandoned  the  place,  and,  though  reduced  to  the  greatest 
extremities,  succeeded  in  reaching  Santa  Isabel  in  California,  where 
we  fell  in  with  them. 

The  Santa  Isabel  meeting  referred  to  had  taken  place  in 
the  previous  May,  1852.    Santa  Isabel  was  an  old  visita  of 

56 


San  Diego  Mission,  about  forty  miles  northeast  of  San 
Diego  and  on  the  road  from  that  port  to  Fort  Yuma.  In 
the  Commissioner's  party,  eastbound,  was  the  noted  scout, 
Antoine  LeRoux,  who  had  been  one  of  the  guides  of  the 
Mormon  Battahon  westward,  in  1846.     Bartlett  wrote: 

LeRoux  had  been  sent  to  the  settlement  at  San  Bernardino,  to 
purchase  a  vehicle  from  newly-arrived  Mormon  immigrants  and  to 

return  with  it  to  Santa  Isabel.     When  the  wagon  came it  was 

driven  by  its  owner,  named  Smithson.  After  paying  him,  I  invited 
him  to  remain  with  us  over  night,  as  he  had  had  a  fatiguing  day's 
journey.  We  were  very  much  amused  during  the  evening  in  listening 
to  the  history  of  our  Mormon  friend,  who  also  enlightened  us  with 
a  lecture  on  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  his  sect.  He  seemed  a  harmless, 
though  zealous  man,  ardent  in  his  religious  belief  and  was,  I  should 
think,  a  fair  specimen  of  his  fraternity.  His  people  had  lately  pur- 
chased the  extensive  haciendas  and  buildings  at  San  Bernardino, 
covering  several  miles  square,  for  $70,000,  one-half  of  which  amount 
they  had  paid  in  cash.  This  is  one  of  the  richest  agricultural  dis- 
tricts in  the  State  and  is  said  to  have  been  a  great  bargain. 

Bartlett's  narrative,  while  interesting,  does  not  inform 
concerning  the  identity  of  the  Mormons  at  Tubac.  Includ- 
ing Smithson,  doubtless  they  were  swallowed  within  the  San 
Bernardino  settlement.  Just  where  the  Tubac  settlers 
came  from  is  not  clear.  There  seems  probability  that  they 
were  from  one  of  the  southern  States,  started  directly  for 
San  Bernardino,  instead  of  via  Salt  Lake,  in  the  same  man- 
ner that  an  Arkansas  expedition  went  directly  to  the  Little 
Colorado  settlements  in  later  years. 

Tubac  dates  back  to  about  1752.  Possibly  not  pertinent 
to  the  subject  of  this  work,  yet  valuable,  is  a  map  of  Tubac, 
herewith  reproduced,  drawn  about  1760  by  Jose  de  Urrutia. 
This  map  lately  was  found  in  the  British  Museum  at  Lon- 
don by  Godfrey  Sykes,  of  the  Desert  Laboratory  at  Tucson. 
From  him  receipt  of  a  copy  is  acknowledged,  with  appre- 
ciation. The  plat  includes  the  irrigated  area  below  the 
presidio. 
A  Texan  Settlement  of  the  Faith 

The   Commissioner   traveled   broadly   and    chronicled 

57 


much  and  the  Author  is  indebted  to  his  memoirs  for  several 
items  of  early  Mormon  settlement  in  the  Southwest. 

One  of  the  earhest  details  given  by  Bartlett  concerns 
his  arrival,  October  14,  1850,  at  the  village  of  Zodiac,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Piedernales  River,  near  Fredericksburg,  about 
seventy  miles  northwest  of  San  Antonio,  Texas.  Zodiac  he 
found  a  village  of  150  souls,  headed  by  Elder  Wight, 
locally  known  as  "Colonel,"  who  acted  as  host.  That  the 
settlement,  even  in  such  early  times,  was  typically  Mormon, 
is  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  Bartlett's  diary: 

Everywhere  around  us  in  this  Zodiacal  settlement  we  saw  abundant 
signs  of  prosperity.  Whatever  may  be  their  theological  errors,  in 
secular  matters  they  present  an  example  of  industry  and  thrift  which 
the  people  of  the  State  might  advantageously  imitate.  They  have  a 
tract  of  land  which  they  have  cultivated  for  about  three  years  and 
which  has  yielded  profitable  crops.  The  well-built  houses,  perfect 
fences  and  tidy  dooryards  give  the  place  a  homelike  air  such  as  we 
had  not  seen  before  in  Texas.  The  dinner  was  a  regular  old-fashioned 
New  England  farmer's  meal,  comprising  an  abundance  of  everything, 
served  with  faultless  neatness.  The  entire  charge  for  the  dinner  for 
twelve  persons  and  corn  for  as  many  animals  was  $3.  .  .  .  The 
colonel  said  he  was  the  first  settler  in  the  valley  of  the  Piedernales  and 
for  many  miles  around.  In  his  colony  were  people  of  all  trades.  He 
told  me  his  crop  of  corn  this  year  would  amount  to  7000  bushels, 
for  which  he  expected  to  realize  $1.25  a  bushel. 


58 


Chapter  Seven 


Hamblin,  "Leatherstocking  of  the  Southwest" 

In  Southern  Arizona  the  first  pioneering  was  done  by- 
devoted  Franciscans  and  Jesuits,  their  chiefest  concern  the 
souls  of  the  gentile  Indians.  In  similar  wise,  the  pioneering 
of  northern  Arizona  had  its  initiation  in  a  hope  of  the 
Mormon  Church  for  conversion  of  the  Indians  of  the 
canyons  and  plains.  In  neither  case  was  there  the  desired 
degree  of  success,  but  each  period  has  brought  to  us  many 
stories  of  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. In  the  days  when  the  American  colonists  were 
shaking  off  the  English  yoke,  our  Southwest  was  having 
exploration  by  the  martyred  Friar  Garces.  Three-quarters 
of  a  century  later,  the  trail  that  had  been  taken  by  the 
priest  to  the  Hopi  villages  was  used  by  a  Mormon  mis- 
sionary, Jacob  Hamblin,  sometimes  called  the  "Leather- 
stocking  of  the  Southwest,"  more  of  a  trail-blazer  than  a 
preacher,  a  scout  of  the  frontier  directly  commissioned 
under  authority  of  his  Church,  serene  in  his  faith  and 
confident  that  his  footsteps  were  being  guided  from  on  high. 

The  Author  has  found  himself  unable  to  write  the 
history  of  northernmost  Arizona  without  continual  min- 
gling of  the  name  and  the  personal  deeds  of  Jacob  Hamblin. 
Apparently  Hamblin  had  had  no  special  training  for  the 
work  he  was  to  do  so  well.  It  seemed  to  "merely  happen" 
that  he  was  in  southwestern  Utah,  as  early  as  1854,  when 
his  Church  was  looking  toward  expansion  to  the  southward. 

Hamblin's  first  essay  into  the  Arizona  country  was  in 
the  troublous  fall  and  winter  of  1857,  a  year  when  he  and 

59 


his  family  were  living  in  the  south  end  of  Mountain  Mead- 
ows, Utah.  He  happened  to  be  in  Salt  Lake  when  the 
famous  Arkansas  emigrant  train  passed  through  his  dis- 
trict. Brigham  Young  sent  a  messenger  southward  with 
instructions  to  let  the  wagon  train  (an  especially  trouble- 
some one)  pass  as  quietly  as  possible,  but  these  instructions 
were  not  received  and  Hamblin  learned  on  the  way  home, 
of  the  massacre.  The  information  came  personally  from 
John  D.  Lee,  the  assassin-in-chief.  In  Hamblin's  autobio- 
graphy is  written,  "The  deplorable  affair  caused  a  sensation 
of  horror  and  deep  regret  throughout  the  entire  community, 
by  whom  it  was  unqualifiedly  condemned." 

Thereafter,  Hamblin  and  his  associates  rode  hard  after 
other  emigrants  who  were  to  be  attacked  by  Indians,  and 
found  a  company  on  the  Muddy,  surrounded  by  Paiutes 
preparing  to  attack  and  destroy  them.  As  a  compromise, 
the  Indians  were  given  the  loose  horses  and  cattle,  which 
later  were  recovered,  and  the  Mormons  remained  with  the 
company  to  assist  in  its  defense. 

Aboriginal  Diversions 

Late  in  the  autumn  of  1857,  a  company  came  through 
on  the  way  to  California,  bringing  a  letter  from  President 
Young,  directing  Hamblin  to  act  as  guide  to  California. 
On  his  way  to  join  the  train,  Hamblin  found  a  naked  man 
in  the  hands  of  the  Paiutes,  who  were  preparing  "to  have 
a  good  time  with  him,"  that  is,  "they  intended  to  take  him 
to  their  camp  and  torture  him."  He  saved  the  man's  life 
and  secured  the  return  of  his  clothing.  As  the  caravan 
neared  the  Muddy,  news  came  of  another  Indian  attack. 
Hamblin  rode  ahead  and  joined  the  Indians.  He  later 
wrote,  "I  called  them  together  and  sat  down  and  smoked  a 
little  tobacco  with  them,  which  I  had  brought  along  for 
that  purpose."  Apparently  there  was  a  good  deal  of  native 
diplomacy  in  the  negotiations.  There  were  some  promises 
of  blankets  and  shirts  and  finally  there  was  agreement  to 
let  the  travelers  proceed. 

60 


JACOB  HAMBLIX 

Apostle  to  the  Lamanites' 


Incidentally,  they  were  met  by  Ira  Hatch  and  Dudley 
Leavitt,  on  their  return  from  a  mission  to  the  Mohave 
Indians.  The  Mohaves,  careless  of  the  Gospel  privileges 
afforded,  held  a  council  over  the  Mormon  missionaries  and 
decided  that  they  should  die.  Hatch  thereupon  knelt  down 
among  the  savages  and  "asked  the  Lord  to  soften  their 
hearts,  that  they  might  not  shed  further  blood."  The 
prayer  was  repeated  to  the  Mohaves  by  a  Paiute  interpre- 
ter. "The  heart  of  the  chief  was  softened"  and  before  dawn 
the  next  morning  he  set  the  two  men  afoot  on  the  desert 
and  directed  them  to  Las  Vegas  Springs,  eighty  miles  distant. 
Their  food  on  the  journey  was  mesquite  bread,  "made 
by  pounding  the  seeds  of  the  mesquite  fruits  in  the  valley." 

Hamblin  at  all  times  was  very  careful  in  his  dealings 
with  the  Indians.  At  an  early  date  he  might  have  killed 
one  of  them,  but  his  gun  missed  fire,  a  circumstance  for 
which  he  later  repeatedly  praised  the  Lord.  Probably  his 
greatest  influence  came  through  his  absolute  fearlessness. 
He  was  firmly  convinced  that  he  was  in  the  Lord's  keeping 
and  that  his  time  would  not  come  till  his  mission  had  been 
accomplished. 

Without  doubt,  Hambhn's  course  was  largely  sustained 
by  a  letter  received  by  him  March  5,  1858,  from  President 
Brigham  Young,  in  which  he  prophesied  that  "the  day  of 
Indian  redemption  draws  nigh,"  and  continued,  "you 
should  always  be  careful  to  impress  upon  them  that  they 
should  not  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  others;  and  our 
brethren  should  be  very  careful  not  to  infringe  upon  their 
rights,  thus  cultivating  honor  and  good  principles  in  their 
midst  by  example,  as  well  as  precept." 

In  the  spring  of  1857,  Hambhn  and  Dudley  Leavitt,  at 
a  point  35  miles  west  of  Las  Vegas,  smelted  some  lead  ore, 
Hambhn  having  some  knowledge  of  the  proper  processes. 
The  lead  later  was  left  on  the  desert.  The  wagons  were 
needed  to  haul  iron,  remnants  of  old  emigrant  wagons  that 
had  been  abandoned  on  the  San  Bernardino  road. 


61 


Encounter  with  Federal  Explorers 

In  the  course  of  his  missionary  endeavor,  in  the  spring 
of  1858,  Hambhn  took  five  men  and  went  by  way  of  Las 
Vegas  Springs  to  the  Colorado  River,  at  the  foot  of  the  Cot- 
tonwood Hills,  170  miles  from  the  Santa  Clara,  Utah, 
settlement.  Upon  this  trip  he  had  remarkable  experiences. 
On  the  river  he  saw  a  small  steamer.  Men  with  animals 
were  making  their  way  upstream  on  the  opposite  side. 
Thales  Haskell,  sent  to  investigate,  returned  next  morn- 
ing with  information  that  the  steamer  company  was  of 
military  character  and  very  hostile  to  the  Mormons,  that 
the  expedition  had  been  sent  out  by  the  Government  to 
examine  the  river  and  learn  if  a  force  could  not  be  taken 
through  southern  Utah  in  that  direction,  should  it  be 
needed,  to  subjugate  the  Mormons.  Hambhn  returned  to 
Las  Vegas  Springs  and  thought  the  situation  so  grave  that 
he  counseled  abandonment  of  the  Mormon  settlement  then 
being  made  at  that  point. 

This  record  is  very  interesting  in  view  of  contemporary 
history.  Without  doubt,  the  steamboat  he  saw  was  the 
little  "Explorer,"  of  the  topographical  exploration  of  the 
Colorado  River  in  the  winter  of  1857-8.  Commanding  was 
Lieut.  J.  C.  Ives  of  the  army  Topographical  Corps,  the 
same  officer  who  had  been  in  the  engineering  section  of 
Whipple's  railway  survey  along  the  35th  parallel.  The 
craft  was  built  in  the  east  and  put  together  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  The  journey  upstream  was  at  a  low  stage  of 
water  and  there  was  continual  trouble  with  snags  and  sandy 
bars.  Finally,  when  Black  Canyon  had  been  reached,  the 
"Explorer"  ran  upon  a  sunken  rock,  the  boiler  was  torn 
loose,  as  well  as  the  wheelhouse,  and  the  river  voyage  had 
to  be  abandoned,  though  Ives  and  two  men  rowed  up  the 
stream  as  far  as  Vegas  Wash. 

The  steamboat  was  floated  back  to  Yuma,  but  Ives 
started  eastward  with  a  pack  train,  guided  by  the  Mohave 
chief,  Iritaba,  taking  the  same  route  that  had  been  pursued 

62 


manj^  years  before  by  Friar  Garces  through  the  Hava  Supai 
and  Hopi  country. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  HambHn  did  not  go  on  board 
the  "Explorer,"  where  no  doubt  he  would  have  received 
cordial  welcome.  Even  at  that  time,  Brigham  Young  un- 
doubtedly would  have  been  pleased  to  have  helped  in  for- 
warding the  opening  of  a  route  to  the  southwestern  coast 
by  wa}^  of  the  Colorado  River. 

Incidentally,  the  steamer  had  a  trip  that  was  valuable 
mainly  in  the  excellent  mapping  that  was  done  by  Ives  and 
his  engineers.  Captain  Johnston  and  the  steamer  "Colo- 
rado" had  been  over  the  same  stretch  of  river  before  the 
"Explorer"  came  and  had  served  to  ferry  across  the  stream, 
about  where  Fort  Mohave  later  stood,  the  famous  camel 
party  of  Lieutenant  Beale. 

The  Hopi  and  the  Welsh  Legend 

There  was  serious  consideration  by  the  Church  author- 
ities of  a  declaration  that  the  Moqui  (Hopi)  Indians  of 
northern  Arizona  had  a  dialect  that  at  least  embraced 
many  Welsh  words.  President  Young  had  heard  that  a 
group  of  Welshmen,  several  hundred  years  before,  had  dis- 
appeared into  the  western  wilds,  so,  with  his  usual  quick 
inquiry  into  matters  that  interested  him,  he  sent  south- 
ward, led  by  Hamblin,  in  the  autumn  of  1858,  a  linguistic 
expedition,  also  including  Durias  Davis  and  Ammon  M. 
Tenney.  Davis  was  a  Welshman,  familiar  with  the  language 
of  his  native  land.  Tenney,  then  only  15,  knew  a  number 
of  Indian  dialects,  as  weU  as  Spanish,  the  last  learned  in 
San  Bernardino.  They  made  diligent  investigation  and 
found  nothing  whatever  to  sustain  the  assertion.  Not  a 
word  could  they  find  that  was  similar  in  anywise  to  any 
European  language. 

It  happens  that  the  Hopi  tongue  is  a  composite,  mainly 
a  Shoshonean  dialect,  probably  accumulated  as  the  various 
clans  of  the  present  tribe  gathered  in  northeastern  Arizona, 
from  the  cactus  country  to  the  south,  the  San  Juan  country 

63 


to  the  northward  and  the  Rio  Grande  valley  to  the  eastward. 
But  the  Welsh  legend  was  slow  in  dying. 

This  expedition  of  1858,  besides  the  two  individuals 
noted,  included  Frederick  and  William  Hamblin,  Dudley 
and  Thomas  Leavitt,  Samuel  Knight,  Ira  Hatch,  Andrew 
S.  Gibbons  (later  an  Arizona  legislator),  Benjamin  Knell 
and  a  Paiute  guide,  Naraguts.  The  journey  started  at 
HambUn's  home  in  the  Santa  Clara  settlement  and  was  by 
way  of  the  mouth  of  the  Paria,  where  a  good  ferry  point 
was  found,  but  not  used,  and  the  Crossing  of  the  Fathers 
on  the  Colorado,  probably  crossed  by  white  men  for  the 
first  time  since  Spanish  days.  The  Hopi  villages  were  found 
none  too  soon,  for  the  men  were  very  hungry.  They  had 
lost  the  mules  that  carried  the  provisions.  The  Hopi  were 
found  hospitable  and  furnished  food  until  the  runaway 
mules  were  brought  in.  There  was  some  communication 
through  the  Ute  language,  after  failure  with  the  language 
of  Wales.  William  Hamblin,  Thomas  Leavitt,  Gibbons 
and  Knell  were  left  as  missionaries  and  the  rest  of  the 
dozen  made  a  difficult  return  journey  to  their  homes,  a 
part  of  the  way  through  snow. 

The  missionaries  left  with  the  Hopi  returned  the  same 
winter.  They  had  not  been  treated  quite  as  badly  as  Father 
Garces,  but  there  had  been  a  division  among  the  tribes, 
started  by  the  priesthood.  There  was  very  good  prophecy, 
however,  by  the  Indians,  to  the  effect  that  the  Mormons 
would  settle  in  the  country  to  the  southward  and  that  their 
route  of  travel  would  be  by  way  of  the  Little  Colorado. 

It  might  be  well  to  insert,  at  this  point,  a  condensation 
of  the  Welsh  legend,  though  affecting,  especially,  the 
Zuni,  a  pueblo-dwelling  tribe,  living  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Hopi  and  with  little  ethnologic  connection.  The  following 
was  written  by  Llewellyn  Harris  (himself  of  Welsh  extrac- 
tion), who  was  a  Mormon  missionary  visitor  to  the  Zuni 
in  January,  1878,  and  is  reprinted  without  endorsement: 

They  say  that,  before  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards, 

64 


the  Zuni  Indians  lived  in  Mexico.  Some  of  them  still  claim  to  be  the 
descendants  of  Montezuma.  At  the  time  of  the  conquest  they  fled 
to  Arizona  and  settled  there.  They  were  at  one  time  a  very  powerful 
tribe,  as  the  ruins  all  over  that  part  of  the  country  testify.  They 
have  always  been  considered  a  very  industrious  people.  The  fact 
that  they  have,  at  one  time,  been  in  a  state  of  civilization  far  in  ad- 
vance of  what  they  are  at  present,  is  established  beyond  a  doubt. 
Before  the  Catholic  religion  was  introduced  to  them,  they  worshipped 
the  sun.  At  present  they  are  nearly  all  Catholics.  A  few  of  them 
have  been  baptized  into  our  Church  by  Brothers  Ammon  M.  Tenney 
and  R.  H.  Smith,  and  nearly  all  the  tribe  say  they  are  going  to  be 
baptized. 

They  have  a  great  many  words  in  the  language  like  the  Welsh, 
and  with  the  same  meaning.  Their  tradition  says  that  over  300  years 
before  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards,  some  white  men 
landed  in  Mexico  and  told  the  Indians  that  they  had  come  from  the 
regions  beyond  the  sea  to  the  east.  They  say  that  from  these  white 
men  came  the  ancient  kings  of  Mexico,  from  whom  Montezuma  de- 
scended. 

These  white  men  were  known  to  the  Indians  of  Mexico  by  the 
name  of  Cambaraga;  and  are  still  remembered  so  in  the  traditions  of 
Zuni  Indians.  In  time  those  white  people  became  mixed  with  In- 
dians, until  scarcely  a  relic  of  them  remained.  A  few  traditions  of  the 
Mexican  Indians  and  a  few  Welsh  words  among  the  Zunis,  Navajos 
and  Moquis  are  all  that  can  be  found  of  that  people  now. 

I  have  the  history  of  the  ancient  Britons,  which  speaks  of  Prince 
Madoc,  who  was  the  son  of  Owen  Guynedd,  King  of  Wales,  having 
sailed  from  Wales  in  the  year  1160,  with  three  ships.  He  returned 
in  the  year  1163,  saying  he  had  found  a  beautiful  country,  across 
the  western  sea.  He  left  Wales  again  in  the  year  1164,  with  fifteen 
ships  and  3000  men.     He  was  never  again  heard  of. 

Indians  Await  Their  Prophets 

President  Young  kept  the  Hopi  in  mind,  for  the  follow- 
ing year  (1859)  he  sent  Hamblin  on  a  second  trip  to  the 
Indians,  with  a  company  that  consisted  of  Marion  J. 
Shelton,  Thales  Haskell,  Taylor  Crosby,  Benjamin  Knell, 
Ira  Hatch  and  John  Wm.  Young.  They  reached  the  Hopi 
villages  November  6,  talked  with  the  Indians  three  days 
and  then  left  the  work  of  possible  conversion  on  the 
shoulders  of  Shelton  and  Haskell,  who  returned  to  the  Santa 
Clara  the  next  spring.     The  Indians  were  kind,  but  un- 


65 

J* 


believing,  and  "could  make  no  move  until  the  reappearance 
of  the  three  prophets  who  led  their  fathers  to  that  land 
and  told  them  to  remain  on  those  rocks  until  they  should 
come  again  and  tell  them  what  to  do."  Both  ways  of  the 
journey  were  by  the  Ute  ford. 

Navajo  Killing  of  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Jr. 

In  the  fall  of  1860,  Hamblin  was  directed  to  attempt 
to  establish  the  faith  in  the  Hopi  towns.  This  time,  from 
Santa  Clara,  he  took  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Jr.,  son  of  an  apostle 
of  the  Church,  Thales  Haskell,  Jehiel  McConnell,  Ira 
Hatch,  Isaac  Riddle,  Amos  G.  Thornton,  Francis  M. 
Hamblin,  James  Pearce  and  an  Indian,  Enos,  with  supplies 
for  a  year.  Young  Ammon  Tenney  was  sent  back.  This 
proved  a  perilous  adventure.  Hamblin  told  he  had  had 
forebodings  of  evil.  Failure  attended  an  attempt  to  cross 
the  Colorado  at  the  Paria.  For  two  days  south  of  the 
Crossing  of  the  Fathers,  there  was  no  water.  The  Navajo 
gathered  around  them  and  barred  further  progress.  There 
was  a  halt,  and  bartering  was  started  for  goods  that  had 
been  brought  along  to  exchange  for  Indian  blankets.  At 
this  point.  Smith  was  shot.  The  deed  was  done  with  his 
own  revolver,  which  had  been  passed  to  an  Indian  who 
asked  to  inspect  it.  The  Indians  readily  admitted  respons- 
ibility, stating  that  it  was  in  reprisal  for  the  killing  of  three 
Navajos  by  palefaces  and  they  demanded  two  more  vic- 
tims before  the  Mormon  company  would  be  allowed  to  go 
in  peace.  The  situation  was  a  difficult  one  for  Jacob,  but 
he  answered  bravely,  "I  would  not  give  a  cent  to  live  after 
I  had  given  up  two  men  to  be  murdered;  I  would  rather  die 
like  a  man  than  live  like  a  dog."  Jacob  went  out  by  himself 
and  had  a  little  session  of  prayer  and  then  the  party  started 
northward,  flanked  by  hostile  Navajos,  but  accompanied 
by  four  old  friendly  tribesmen.  Smith  was  taken  along  on 
a  mule,  with  McConnell  behind  to  hold  him  on.  Thus  it 
was  that  he  died  about  sundown.  His  last  words,  when  told 
that  a  stop  could  not  be  made,  were,  "Oh,  well,  go  on  then; 

66 


but  I  wish  I  could  die  in  peace."  The  body  was  wrapped 
in  a  blanket  and  laid  in  a  hollow  by  the  side  of  the  trail, 
for  no  stop  could  be  made  even  to  bury  the  dead. 

About  a  week  later,  Santa  Clara  was  reached  by  the 
worn  and  jaded  party,  sustained  the  last  few  days  on  a 
diet  mainly  of  pinon  nuts. 

That  winter,  through  the  snow  and  ice,  Hamblin  led 
another  party  across  the  Colorado  out  upon  the  desert,  to 
bring  home  the  remains  of  their  brother  in  the  faith.  The 
head  and  the  larger  bones  were  returned  for  burial  at 
Salt  Lake  City.  It  was  learned  that  the  attacking  Indians 
were  from  Fort  Defiance  and  on  this  trip  it  was  told  that 
the  Navajo  considered  their  own  action  a  grave  mistake. 

A  Seeking  of  Baptism  for  Gain 

That  the  Shivwits  were  susceptible  to  missionary  argu- 
ment was  indicated  about  1862,  when  James  H.  Pearce 
brought  from  Arizona  into  St.  George  a  band  of  300  Indians, 
believed  to  comprise  the  whole  tribe.  All  were  duly  bap- 
tized into  the  Church,  the  ceremony  performed  by  David 
H.  Cannon.  Then  Erastus  Snow  distributed  largess  of 
clothing  and  food.  Ten  years  later  Pearce  again  was  with 
the  Indians,  greeted  in  affectionate  remembrance.  But 
there  was  complaint  from  the  Shivwits  they  "had  not  heard 
from  the  Lord  since  he  left."  Then  followed  fervent  sug- 
gestions from  the  tribesmen  that  they  be  taken  to  St. 
George  and  be  baptized  again.  They  wanted  more  shirts. 
They  also  wanted  Pearce  to  write  to  the  Lord  and  to  tell  U'^ 
Him  the  Shivwits  had  been  pretty  good  Indians. 

The  First  Tour  Around  the  Grand  Canyon 

Hamblin's  adventures  to  the  southward  were  far  from 
complete.  In  the  autumn  of  1862  President  Young  directed 
another  visit  to  the  Hopi,  recommending  that  the  Colorado 
be  crossed  south  of  St.  George,  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  more 
feasible  route.  Hambhn  had  had  disaster  the  previous 
spring,  in  which  freshets  had  swept  away  his  grist  miU  and 

67 


other  improvements.  Most  of  the  houses  and  cultivated 
land  of  the  Santa  Clara  settlement  had  disappeared.  He 
was  given  a  company  of  twenty  men,  detailed  by  Apostles 
Orson  Pratt  and  Erastus  Snow.  A  small  boat  was  taken 
to  the  river  by  wagon.  Hamblin's  chronicle  does  not 
tell  just  where  the  crossing  was  made,  but  it  is  assumed 
that  it  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Grand  Wash.  From  the 
river  crossing  there  were  four  days  of  very  dry  travel 
toward  the  southeast,  with  the  San  Francisco  Mountains 
in  the  far  distance.  There  is  no  reference  in  his  diary  to  the 
finding  of  any  roads,  but  it  is  probable  that  most  of  the 
journey  was  on  aboriginal  trails.  Snow  was  found  at  the 
foot  of  the  San  Francisco  Mountains  and  two  days  there- 
after the  Little  Colorado  was  crossed  and  then  were  reached 
the  Hopi,  who  "had  been  going  through  some  religious 
ceremonies  to  induce  the  Great  Spirit  to  send  storms  to 
water  their  country  that  they  might  raise  abundance  of 
food  the  coming  season."  This  may  have  been  the  annual 
Snake  Dance.  The  Hopi  refused  to  send  some  of  their 
chief  men  to  Utah,  their  traditions  forbidding,  but  finally 
three  joined  after  the  expedition  had  started.  There  had 
been  left  behind  McConnell,  Haskell,  and  Hatch  to  labor 
for  a  season,  and  as  hostages  for  the  return  of  the  tribesmen. 

This  journey  probably  was  the  first  that  ever  circled 
the  Grand  Canyon,  for  return  was  by  the  Ute  Crossing, 
where  fording  was  difiicult  and  dangerous,  for  the  water 
was  deep  and  ice  was  running.  The  three  Hopi  were  dis- 
mayed over  their  violation  of  tradition,  but  were  induced 
to  go  on.  Incidentally,  food  became  so  scarce  that  resort 
was  had  to  the  killing  and  cooking  of  crows. 

The  Indians  were  taken  on  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  were 
shown  many  things  that  impressed  them  greatly.  An  un- 
successful attempt  was  made  to  learn  whether  they  spoke 
Welsh.  Hamblin  wrote  that  the  Indians  said,  "They  had 
been  told  that  their  forefathers  had  the  arts  of  reading, 
writing,  making  books,  etc." 

68 


AMMOX  M.  TENNEY 
Pioneer  Scout  of  the  Southwest 


Here  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Grand  Canyon  was 
circumtoured  in  the  fall  of  1920  by  Governor  and  Mrs. 
Campbell,  but  under  very  different  circumstances.  The 
vehicle  was  an  automobile.  Crossing  of  the  Colorado  was 
at  the  Searchlight  ferry,  about  forty  miles  downstream  from 
old  Callville.  On  the  first  day  248  miles  were  covered, 
mainly  on  the  old  Mormon  road,  to  Littlefield,  through  the 
Muddy  section,  now  being  revived.  St.  George  and  other 
pioneer  southern  Utah  settlements  were  passed  on  the  way 
to  Kanab  and  Fredonia.  The  road  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Paria  and  to  Lee's  Ferry  appears  to  have  been  found  very 
little  less  rough  than  when  traveled  by  the  Mormon  ox 
teams,  and  the  river  crossing  was  attended  by  experiences 
with  quicksand  and  other  dangers,  while  the  pull  outward 
on  the  south  side  was  up  a  steep  and  hazardous  highway. 

A  Visit  to  the  Hava-Supai  Indians 

Hamblin  had  about  as  many  trips  as  Sindbad  the 
Sailor  and  about  as  many  adventures.  Of  course,  he  had 
to  take  the  Hopi  visitors  home,  and  on  this  errand  he 
started  from  St.  George  on  March  18,  1863,  with  a  party 
of  six  white  men,  including  Gibbons,  Haskell,  Hatch  and 
McConnell.  They  took  the  western  route  and  found  a 
better  crossing,  later  called  Pearce's  Ferry.  At  this  point 
they  were  overtaken  by  Lewis  Greeley,  a  nephew  of  Horace 
Greeley  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  who  had  been  sent  on 
to  the  river  by  Erastus  Snow. 

A  trail  was  taken  to  the  left  of  the  former  route.  This 
trail  very  clearly  was  the  main  thoroughfare  used  by  the 
Wallapai  into  Cataract  Canyon,  which  was  so  known  at 
that  time.  Down  the  trail,  into  the  abysmal  "voladero"  of 
Father  Garces,  they  traveled  a  day  and  part  of  another, 
leading  their  horses  most  of  the  way.  In  many  places  they 
could  not  have  turned  their  animals  around  had  they  wished 
to  do  so. 

Cataract  Canyon,  the  home  of  the  Hava-Supai,  is  a 
veritable   Yosemite,   with   craggy   walls  that   rise  nearly 

69 


3000  feet  to  the  mesa  above.  Hamblin  especially  noted  the 
boiling  from  the  bottom  of  the  canyon  of  a  beautiful  large 
spring,  the  same  which  today  irrigates  the  lands  of  the  well- 
disposed  Indians.  These  Indians  gave  assistance  to  the 
party  and  told  of  an  attack  made  a  short  time  before  by 
Apaches  from  the  southeast,  who  had  been  met  in  a  narrow 
pass  where  several  of  their  number  had  been  slain.  Assuring 
the  Hava-Supai  they  would  send  no  enemies  into  their 
secret  valley,  Hamblin  led  his  party  to  the  eastward,  up 
the  Tope-Kobe  trail  to  the  plateau.  This  was  reached 
April  7.  Though  along  the  Moqui  trail  at  no  point  were 
they  very  far  from  the  Grand  Canyon,  that  gorge  was  not 
noted  in  Hamblin's  narrative,  for  the  brethren  were  not 
sight-seeing.  A  few  days  later  they  were  in  the  Hopi  towns, 
to  which  the  three  much-traveled  Indians  preceded  them, 
in  eagerness  to  see  their  people  again. 

Only  two  days  were  spent  with  the  Indians  and  on 
April  15,  taking  Haskell,  Hatch  and  McConnell,  the  party 
struck  toward  the  southwest,  to  find  the  Beale  road.  On 
the  20th,  Greeley  discovered  a  pond  of  clear  cold  water 
several  acres  in  extent  in  the  crater  of  a  volcanic  peak. 
The  San  Francisco  peaks  were  passed,  left  to  the  southward, 
and  the  Beale  road  was  struck  six  miles  west  of  LeRoux 
Springs,  the  later  site  of  Fort  Moroni,  seven  miles  north- 
west of  the  present  Flagstaff. 

The  Beale  road  was  followed  until  the  28th.  Thence,  the 
men  suffered  thirst,  for  56  hours  being  without  water. 
Ten  of  their  eighteen  horses  were  stolen.  This,  it  was  ex- 
plained, was  due  to  the  failure  of  the  Hava-Supai  to  return 
Wallapai  horses  which  the  men  had  left  in  Cataract  Canyon 
on  the  outward  journey.  St.  George  was  reached  May  13, 
1863.  The  main  result  had  been  the  exploration  of  a  practi- 
cable, though  difficult,  route  for  wagons  from  St.  George 
to  the  Little  Colorado  and  to  the  Hopi  towns. 

Experiences  with  the  Redskins 

Ammon  M.  Tenney  in  Phoenix  lately  told  the  Author 

70 


that  the  Navajo  were  the  only  Indians  who  ever  really 
fought  the  Mormons  and  the  only  tribe  against  which  the 
Mormons  were  compelled  to  depart  from  their  rule  against 
the  shedding  of  blood.  It  is  not  intended  in  this  work  to 
go  into  any  history  of  the  many  encounters  between  the 
Utah  Mormons  and  the  Arizona  Navajo,  but  there  should 
be  inclusion  of  a  story  told  by  Tenney  of  an  experience  in 
I860  at  a  point  eighteen  miles  west  of  Pipe  Springs  and  six 
miles  southwest  of  Canaan,  Utah.  There  were  three 
Americans  from  Toquerville,  the  elder  Tenney,  the  narra- 
tor, and  Enoch  Dodge,  the  last  known  as  one  of  the  bravest 
of  southern  Utah  pioneers.  The  three  were  surrounded  by 
sixteen  Navajos,  and,  with  their  backs  to  the  wall,  fought 
for  an  hour  or  more,  finally  abandoning  their  thirteen 
horses  and  running  for  better  shelter.  Dodge  was  shot 
through  the  knee  cap,  a  wound  that  incapacitated  him 
from  the  fight  thereafter.  The  elder  Tenney  fell  and  broke 
his  shoulder  blade  and  was  stunned,  though  he  was  not 
shot.  This  left  the  fight  upon  the  younger  Tenney,  who 
managed  to  climb  a  twelve-foot  rocky  escarpment.  He 
reached  down  with  his  rifle  and  dragged  up  his  fathei 
and  Dodge.  The  three  opportunely  found  a  little  cave  in 
which  they  secreted  themselves  until  reasonably  rested, 
hearing  the  Indians  searching  for  them  on  the  plateau  above. 
Then,  in  the  darkness,  they  made  their  way  fifteen  miles 
into  Duncan's  Retreat  on  the  Virgin  River  in  Utah. 
"There  is  one  thing  I  will  say  for  the  Navajo,"  Tenney 
declared  with  fervor.  "He  is  a  sure-enough  fighting  man. 
The  sixteen  of  them  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder,  not  taking 
cover,  as  almost  any  other  southwestern  Indian  would  have 
done." 

Apparently,  on  each  of  the  visits  that  had  been  made  by 
Hambhn  to  the  Hopi,  he  had  made  suggestion  that  the 
tribes  leave  their  barren  land  and  move  to  the  northward, 
across  the  Colorado,  where  good  lands  might  be  allotted 
them,  on  which  they  might  five  in  peace  and  plenty,  where 

71 


they  might  build  cities  and  villages  the  same  as  other 
people,  but,  according  to  Hamblin's  journal,  "They  again 
told  us  that  they  could  not  leave  their  present  location 
until  the  three  prophets  should  appear  again.'* 

This  was  written  particularly  in  regard  to  a  visit  made 
to  the  villages  in  1864,  and  in  connection  with  a  theft  of 
horses  by  Navajos  near  Kanab.  It  was  found  inexpedient 
to  go  into  the  Navajo  country,  as  Chief  Spaneshanks,  who 
had  been  relatively  friendly,  had  been  deposed  by  his  band 
and  had  been  succeeded  by  a  son  of  very  different  incli- 
nation. 

In  autumn  of  the  same  year,  Anson  Call,  Dr.  Jas.  M. 
Whitmore,  A.  M.  Cannon  and  Hamblin  and  son  visited 
Las  Vegas  Springs  and  the  Colorado  River,  stopping  a 
while  with  the  Cottonwood  Island  Indians  and  the  Mohave, 
and  establishing  Callville. 

Killing  of  Whitmore  and  Mclntire 

January  8,  1866,  Doctor  Whitmore  and  his  herder, 
Robert  Mclntire,  were  killed  in  Arizona,  four  miles  north 
of  Pipe  Springs  by  a  band  of  Paiede  Paiutes  and  Navajos, 
that  drove  off  horses,  sheep  and  cattle.  There  was  pursuit 
from  St.  George  by  Col.  D.  D.  McArthur  and  company. 

A  tale  of  the  pursuit  comes  from  Anthony  W.  Ivins,  a 
member  of  the  company,  then  a  mere  boy  who  went  out 
on  a  mule  with  a  quilt  for  a  saddle.  The  weather  was 
bitterly  cold.  The  bodies  were  found  covered  with  snow, 
which  was  three  feet  deep.  Each  body  had  many  arrow 
and  bullet  wounds.  The  men  had  been  attacked  while 
riding  the  range,  only  Mclntire  being  armed.  A  detach- 
ment, under  Captain  James  Andrus,  found  the  murderous 
Indians  in  camp  and,  in  a  short  engagement,  killed  nine  of 
them. 

The  trail  to  the  Hopi  towns  must  have  been  well  known 
to  the  Mormon  scout  when  in  October,  1869,  again  he  was 
detailed  to  investigate  the  sources  of  raids  on  the  Mormon 
borders.     He  had  a  fairly  strong  company  of  forty  men, 

72 


including  twenty  Paiutes.  The  crossing  was  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Paria.  Apparently  all  that  was  accompHshed  on  this 
trip  was  to  learn  that  the  Indians  intended  to  make  still 
another  raid  on  the  southern  settlements.  Hambhn  wanted 
to  go  back  by  way  of  the  Ute  trail  and  the  Crossing  of  the 
Fathers,  but  was  overruled  by  his  brethren,  who  preferred 
the  Paria  route.  When  they  returned,  it  was  to  learn  that 
the  Navajos  already  had  raided  and  had  driven  off  more 
than  1200  head  of  animals,  and  that,  if  the  Mormon  com- 
pany, on  returning,  had  taken  the  Ute  trail,  the  raiders 
would  have  been  met  and  the  animals  possibly  recovered. 
The  winter  was  a  hard  one  for  the  Mormons  who  watched 
the  frontier,  assisted  by  friendly  Paiutes.  The  trouble 
weighed  heavily  upon  Hamblin's  mind  and,  in  the  spring 
of  1870,  at  Kanab,  he  offered  himself  to  President  Young 
as  an  ambassador  to  the  Navajo,  to  prevent,  if  possible, 
further  shedding  of  blood. 


73 


Chapter  Eight 


Visiting  the  Paiutes  with  Powell 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1870  that  HambHn  met  Major 
J.  W.  Powell,  who  had  descended  the  Colorado  the  previous 
year.  Powell's  ideas  coincided  very  well  with  those  of 
Hamblin.  He  wanted  to  visit  the  Indians  and  prevent 
repetition  of  such  a  calamity  as  that  in  which  three  of  his 
men  had  been  killed  near  Mount  Trumbull,  southwest  of 
Kanab.  So,  in  September,  1870,  there  was  a  gathering  at 
Mount  Trumbull,  with  about  fifteen  Indians.  What  fol- 
lowed is  presented  in  Powell's  own  language: 

This  evening,  the  Shivwits,  for  whom  we  have  sent,  come  in,  and 
after  supper  we  hold  a  long  council.  A  blazing  fire  is  built,  and  around 
this  we  sit — the  Indians  living  here,  the  Shivwits,  Jacob  Hamblin 
and  myself.  This  man,  Hamblin,  speaks  their  language  well  and 
has  a  great  influence  over  all  the  Indians  in  the  region  round  about. 
He  is  a  silent,  reserved  man,  and  when  he  speaks  it  is  in  a  slow,  quiet 
way  that  inspires  great  awe.  His  talk  is  so  low  that  they  must  listen 
attentively  to  hear,  and  they  sit  around  him  in  deathlike  silence. 
When  he  finishes  a  measured  sentence  the  chief  repeats  it  and  they 
all  give  a  solemn  grunt.  But,  first,  I  fill  my  pipe,  light  it,  and  take  a 
few  whiffs,  then  pass  it  to  Hamblin;  he  smokes  and  gives  it  to  the 
man  next,  and  so  it  goes  around.  When  it  has  passed  the  chief,  he 
takes  out  his  own  pipe,  fills  and  lights  it,  and  passes  it  around  after 
mine.  I  can  smoke  my  own  pipe  in  turn,  but  when  the  Indian  pipe 
comes  around,  I  am  nonplussed.  It  has  a  large  stem,  which  has 
at  some  time  been  broken,  and  now  there  is  a  buckskin  rag  wound 
around  it  and  tied  with  sinew,  so  that  the  end  of  the  stem  is  a  huge 
mouthful,  exceedingly  repulsive.  To  gain  time,  I  refill  it,  then  engage 
in  very  earnest  conversation,  and,  all  unawares,  I  pass  it  to  my  neighbor 
unlighted.  I  tell  the  Indians  that  I  wish  to  spend  some  months  in 
their  country  during  the  coming  year  and  that  I  would  like  them  to 
treat  me  as  a  friend.     I  do  not  wish  to  trade;  do  not  want  their  lands. 

74 


Heretofore  I  have  found  it  very  difficult  to  make  the  natives  understand 
my  object,  but  the  gravity  of  the  Mormon  missionary  helps  me  much. 

Then  their  chief  replies:  "Your  talk  is  good  and  we  believe 
what  you  say.  We  believe  in  Jacob,  and  look  upon  you  as  a  father. 
"WTien  you  are  hungry,  you  may  have  our  game.  You  may  gather  our 
sweet  fruits.  We  will  give  you  food  when  you  come  to  our  land. 
We  will  show  you  the  springs  and  you  may  drink;  the  water  is  good. 
We  will  be  friends  and  when  you  come  we  will  be  glad.  We  will  tell 
the  Indians  who  live  on  the  other  side  of  the  great  river  that 
we  have  seen  Kapurats  (one-armed — the  Indian  name  for  Powell) 
and  that  he  is  the  Indian's  friend.  We  will  tell  them  he  is  Jacob's 
friend." 

The  Indians  told  that  the  three  men  had  been  killed  in 
the  behef  they  were  miners.  They  had  come  upon  an  Indian 
village,  almost  starved  and  exhausted  with  fatigue,  had  been 
supplied  with  food  and  put  on  their  way  to  the  settlements. 
On  receipt  of  news  that  certain  Indians  had  been  killed  by 
whites,  the  men  were  followed,  ambushed  and  slain  with 
many  arrows.  Powell  observes  that  that  night  he  slept 
in  peace,  "although  these  murderers  of  my  men  were 
sleeping  not  500  yards  away."  Hamblin  improved  the 
time  in  trying  to  make  the  Indians  understand  the  idea  of 
an  overruUng  Providence  and  to  appreciate  that  God  was 
not  pleased  with  the  shedding  of  blood.  He  admitted, 
"These  teachings  did  not  appear  to  have  much  influence 
at  the  time,  but  afterwards  they  yielded  much  good 
fruit." 

Wm.  R.  Hawkins,  cook  for  this  first  Powell  expedition, 
died  a  few  years  ago  in  Mesa,  Arizona.  Willis  W.  Bass,  a 
noted  Grand  Canyon  guide,  lately  published  an  interesting 
booklet  carrying  some  side  lights  on  the  Powell  explora- 
tions. In  it  is  declared,  on  Hawkins'  authority,  that  the 
three  men  who  climbed  the  cliffs,  to  meet  death  above,  left 
the  party  after  a  quarrel  with  Powell,  the  dispute  starting 
in  the  latter's  demand  for  payment  for  a  watch  that  had 
been  ruined  while  in  possession  of  one  of  the  trio.  Powell 
is  charged  with  having  ordered  the  man  to  leave  his  party 
if  he  would  not  agree  to  pay  for  the  watch. 

75 


A  Great  Conference  with  the  Navajo 

One  of  the  greatest  of  Hamblin's  southern  visitations 
was  in  the  autumn  of  1870,  when  he  served  as  a  guide  for 
Major  Powell  eastward,  by  way  of  the  Hopi  villages  and  of 
Fort  Defiance.  Powell's  invitation  was  the  more  readily 
accepted  as  this  appeared  to  be  an  opening  for  the  much- 
desired  peace  talk  with  the  Navajo.  In  the  expedition  were 
Ammon  M.  Tenney,  Ashton  Nebecker,  Nathan  Terry  and 
Elijah  Potter  of  the  brethren,  three  of  Powell's  party  and 
a  Kaibab  Indian. 

According  to  Tenney,  in  the  previous  year,  the  Navajo 
had  stolen  $1,000,000  worth  of  cattle,  horses  and  sheep  in 
southern  Utah.  Tenney,  in  a  personal  interview  with  the 
Author  in  1920,  told  that  the  great  council  then  called, 
was  tremendously  dramatic.  About  a  dozen  Americans  were 
present,  including  Powell  and  Captain  Bennett.  Tenney 
estimated  that  about  8000  Indians  were  on  the  council 
ground  at  Fort  Defiance.  This  number  would  have  included 
the  entire  tribe.  It  was  found  that  the  gathering  was  dis- 
tinctly hostile.  Powell  and  Hambhn  led  in  the  talking. 
The  former  had  no  authority  whatever,  but  gave  the 
Indians  to  understand  that  he  was  a  commissioner  on  behalf 
of  the  whites  and  that  serious  chastisement  would  come  to 
them  in  a  visit  of  troops  if  there  should  be  continuation  of 
the  evil  conditions  complained  of  by  the  Mormons.  Un- 
doubtedly this  talk  had  a  strong  effect  upon  the  Indians, 
who  in  Civil  War  days  had  been  punished  harshly  for 
similar  depredations  upon  the  pueblos  of  New  Mexico  and 
who  may  have  remembered  when  Col.  Kit  Carson  des- 
cended upon  the  Navajo,  chopped  down  their  fruit  trees, 
and  laid  waste  their  farms,  later  mofet  of  the  tribe  being 
taken  into  exile  in  New  Mexico. 

Dellenbaugh  and  Hamblin  wrote  much  concerning  this 
great  council.  Powell  introduced  HambUn  as  a  represen- 
tative of  the  Mormons,  whom  he  highly  complimented  as 
industrious  and  peaceful  people.    Hamblin  told  of  the  evils 

76 


of  a  war  in  which  many  men  had  been  lost,  including  twenty 
or  thirty  Navajos,  and  informed  the  Indians  that  the  young 
men  of  Utah  wanted  to  come  over  to  the  Navajo  country 
and  kill,  but  "had  been  told  to  stay  at  home  until  other 
means  of  obtaining  peace  had  been  tried  and  had  failed." 
He  referred  to  the  evils  that  come  from  the  necessity  of 
guarding  stock  where  neither  white  nor  Indian  could  trust 
sheep  out  of  sight.  He  then  painted  the  beauties  of  peace, 
in  which  "horses  and  sheep  would  become  fat  and  in  which 
one  could  sleep  in  peace  and  awake  and  find  his  property 
safe.**    Low-voiced,  but  clearly,  the  message  concluded: 

WTiat  shall  I  tell  my  people,  the  Mormons,  when  I  return  home? 
That  we  may  live  in  peace,  live  as  friends,  and  trade  with  one  another? 
Or  shall  we  look  for  you  to  come  prowling  around  our  weak  settlements, 
like  wolves  in  the  night?  I  hope  we  may  live  in  peace  in  time  to  come. 
I  have  now  gray  hairs  on  my  head,  and  from  my  boyhood  I  have 
been  on  the  frontiers  doing  all  I  could  to  preserve  peace  between  white 
men  and  Indians  I  despise  this  killing,  this  shedding  of  blood.  I 
hope  you  will  stop  this  and  come  and  visit  and  trade  with  our  people. 
We  would  like  to  hear  what  you  have  got  to  say  before  we  go  home. 

Barbenceta,  the  principal  chief,  slowly  approached  as 
Jacob  ended  and,  putting  his  arms  around  him,  said, 
"My  friend  and  brother,  I  will  do  all  that  I  can  to  bring 
about  what  you  have  advised.  We  will  not  give  all  our 
answer  now.  Many  of  the  Navajos  are  here.  We  will 
talk  to  them  tonight  and  will  see  you  on  your  way  home." 
The  chief  addressed  his  people  from  a  Httle  eminence. 
The  Americans  understood  little  or  nothing  of  what  he 
was  saying,  but  it  was  agreed  that  it  was  a  great  oration. 
The  Indians  hung  upon  every  word  and  responded  to  every 
gesture  and  occasionally,  in  unison,  there  would  come  from 
the  crowd  a  harsh  "Huh,  Huh,"  in  approval  of  their 
chieftain's  advice  and  admonition. 

A  number  of  days  were  spent  at  Fort  Defiance  in  at- 
tempting to  arrive  at  an  understanding  with  the  Navajo. 
Hamblin  wrote,  "through  Ammon  M,  Tenney  being  able 
to   converse  in  Spanish,   we  accomphshed   much  good." 

77 


On  the  way  home,  in  a  Hopi  village,  were  met  Barbenceta 
and  also  a  number  of  chiefs  who  had  not  been  at  Fort 
Defiance.  The  talk  was  very  agreeable,  the  Navajos  say- 
ing, "We  hope  that  we  may  be  able  to  eat  at  one  table, 
warm  by  one  fire,  smoke  one  pipe,  and  sleep  in  one  blanket." 

An  Official  Record  of  the  Council 

Determination  of  the  time  of  the  council  has  come  to 
the  Arizona  Historian's  office,  within  a  few  days  of  the 
closing  of  the  manuscript  of  this  work,  the  data  supplied 
from  the  office  of  the  Church  Historian  at  Salt  Lake  City. 
In  it  is  a  copy  of  a  final  report,  dated  November  5,  1870, 
and  signed  by  Frank  F.  Bennett,  Captain  United  States 
Army,  agent  for  the  Navajo  Indians  at  Fort  Defiance. 
The  report  is  as  follows: 

To  Whom  It  May  Concern: 

This  is  to  certify  that  Capt.  Jacob  Hamblin  of  Kanab,  Kane 
Co.,  Southern  Utah,  came  to  this  agency  with  Prof.  John  W.  Powell 
and  party  on  the  1st  day  of  November,  1870,  and  expressed  a  desire 
to  have  a  talk  with  myself  and  the  principal  men  of  the  Navajo  In- 
dians in  regard  to  depredations  which  the  Navajos  are  alleged  to  have 
committed  in  southern  Utah. 

I  immediately  informed  the  chiefs  that  I  wished  them  to  talk  the 
matter  over  among  themselves  and  meet  Captain  Hamblin  and  my- 
self in  a  council  at  the  agency  in  four  days.  This  was  done  and  we, 
today,  have  had  a  long  talk.  The  best  of  feeling  existed.  And  the 
chiefs  and  good  men  of  the  Navajo  Indians  pledge  themselves  that 
no  more  Navajos  will  be  allowed  to  go  into  Utah;  and  that  they  will 
not,  under  any  circumstances,  allow  any  more  depredations  to  be 
committed  by  their  people.  That  if  they  hear  of  any  party  forming 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  raid,  that  they  will  immediately  go 
to  the  place  and  stop  them,  using  force  if  necessary.  They  express 
themselves  as  extremely  anxious  to  be  on  the  most  friendly  terms 
with  the  Mormons  and  that  they  may  have  a  binding  and  lasting  peace. 

I  assure  the  people  of  Utah  that  nothing  shall  be  left  undone  by 
me  to  assist  these  people  in  their  wishes  and  I  am  positive  that  they 
are  in  earnest^and  mean  what  they  say. 

I  am  confident  that  this  visit  of  Captain  Hamblin  and  the  talk 
we  have  had  will  be  the  means  of  accomplishing  great  good. 

Together  with  this  Bennett  letter  is  one  addressed  by 

78 


Jacob  Hamblinto  Erastus  Snow,  dated  November  21,  1870, 
and  reciting  in  detail  the  circumstances  of  the  great  council, 
concluded  November  5,  1870.  Most  of  the  debate  was 
between  Hamblin  and  Chief  Barbenceta,  with  occasional 
observations  by  Powell  concerning  the  might  of  the 
American  Nation  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  cessation 
of  thievery.  Hamblin  told  how  the  young  men  and  the 
middle-aged  of  his  people  had  gathered  to  make  war  upon 
the  Navajo,  ''determined  to  cross  the  river  and  follow  the 
trail  of  the  stolen  stock  and  lay  waste  the  country,  but  our 
white  chief,  Brigham  Young,  was  a  man  of  peace  and 
stopped  his  people  from  raiding  and  wanted  us  to  ask 
peace.  This  is  my  business  here."  He  told  that,  five  years 
before,  the  Navajos  were  led  by  three  principal  men  of 
the  Paiutes  and  at  that  time  seven  Paiutes  were  killed 
near  the  place  where  the  white  man  was  killed.  These 
were  not  the  right  Indians,  not  the  Paiutes  who  had  done 
the  mischief.  Barbenceta  talked  at  great  length.  To  a 
degree  he  blamed  the  Paiutes,  but  could  not  promise  that 
no  more  raids  would  be  made,  but  he  told  the  agent  he 
would  endeavor  to  stop  all  future  depredations  and  would 
return  stolen  stock,  if  found. 

Navajos  to  Keep  South  of  the  River 

There  finally  was  agreement  that  Navajos  should  go 
north  of  the  river  only  for  horse  trading,  or  upon  necessary 
errands,  and  that  when  they  did  go,  they  would  be  made 
safe  and  welcome,  this  additionally  secure,  if  they  were  to 
go  first  to  Hambhn. 

The  Hopi  and  the  Navajo,  at  that  time,  and  probably 
for  many  years  before,  were  unfriendly.  There  was  a  tale 
how  the  Hopi  had  attacked  35  Navajos,  disarmed  them, 
and  then  had  thrown  them  off  a  high  chff  between  two  of 
their  towns.  Hamblin  went  to  the  place  indicated  and  found 
a  number  of  skeletons  and  remains  of  blankets  and  under- 
stood that  the  deed  had  been  done  the  year  before.    The 


79 


Navajo  had  plundered  the  Hopi  for  generations  and  the 
latter  had  retaliated. 

Hamblin's  diary  gives  the  great  Navajo  council  as  in 
1871.  There  also  is  much  confusion  of  dates  in  several 
records  of  the  time.  But  the  year  appears  to  be  definitely 
established  through  the  fact  that  Powell  was  in  Salt  Lake 
in  October  and  November  of  1871.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
also,  that  Powell,  in  his  own  narrative  of  the  1870  trip, 
makes  no  reference  to  Hamblin's  presence  with  him  south 
of  the  river  or  even  to  the  dramatic  circumstances  of  the 
great  council,  set  by  Hamblin  and  Dellenbaugh  on  Novem- 
ber 2.  Powell's  diary  places  him  at  Fort  Defiance  October 
31,  1870,  and  at  a  point  near  Fort  Wingate  November  2. 

Tuba's  Visit  to  the  White  Men 

It  was  on  the  return  from  the  grand  council  with  the 
Navajo,  in  November,  1870,  that  Hamblin  took  to  Utah, 
Tuba,  a  leading  man  of  the  Oraibi  Hopi  and  his  wife,  Pulas- 
kaninki. 

In  Hamblin's  journal  is  a  charming  Httle  account  of  how 
Tuba  crossed  the  prohibited  river.  Tuba  told  HambHn, 
"I  have  worshipped  the  Father  of  us  all  in  the  way  you 
believe  to  be  right.  Now  I  wish  you  would  do  as  the  Hopi 
think  is  right  before  we  cross."  So  the  two  knelt,  Hamblin 
accepting  in  his  right  hand  some  of  the  contents  of  Tuba's 
medicine  bag  and  Tuba  prayed  "for  pity  upon  his  Mormon 
friends,  that  none  might  drown,  and  for  the  preservation  of 
all  the  animals  we  had,  as  all  were  needed,  and  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  food  and  clothing,  that  hunger  nor  cold  might 
be  known  on  the  trail."  They  arose  and  scattered  the  in- 
gredients from  the  medicine  bag  into  the  air,  upon  the  men 
and  into  the  waters  of  the  river.  Hamblin  wrote,  "To  me 
the  whole  ceremony  seemed  humble  and  reverential.  I 
feel  the  Father  had  regard  for  such  petitions."  There  was 
added  prayer  by  Tuba  when  the  expedition  safely  landed 
on  the  opposite  shore,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Paria. 

Tuba  had  a  remarkable  trip.   He  was  especially  interest- 

80 


ed  in  the  spinning  mill  at  Washington,  for  he  had  made 
blankets,  and  his  wife,  with  handmill  experience,  thought  of 
labor  lost  when  she  looked  at  the  work  of  a  flour  mill.  At 
St.  George  they  saw  President  Young,  who  gave  them 
clothing. 

Tuba  was  taken  back  home  to  Oraibi  in  safety  in  Sep- 
tember, 1871,  and  his  return  was  celebrated  by  feasting. 

Of  date  December  24,  1870,  in  the  files  of  the  Deseret 
News  is  found  a  telegram  from  George  A.  Smith,  who  was 
with  President  Brigham  Young  and  party  in  Utah's  Dixie, 
at  St.  George.    He  wired: 

Jacob  Hamblin,  accompanied  by  Tooby,  a  Moqui  magistrate  of 
Oraibi  village,  and  wife,  who  are  on  a  visit  to  this  place  to  get  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  agriculture  and  manufactures,  came  here  lately. 
Tooby,  being  himself  a  skillful  spinner,  examined  the  factory  and 
grist  mill  at  Washington.  Upon  seeing  360  spindles  in  operation, 
he  said  he  had  no  heart  to  spin  with  bis  fingers  any  more. 

On  the  trip  southward  in  1871,  on  which  Hamblin  re- 
turned Tuba  and  his  wife  to  their  home,  he  served  as  guide 
as  far  as  the  Ute  ford  for  a  party  that  was  bearing  pro- 
visions for  the  second  Powell  expedition.  He  arrived  at  the 
ford  September  25,  but  remained  only  a  day,  then  going 
on  to  Moen  Copie,  Oraibi  and  Fort  Defiance,  where  he 
seems  to  have  had  some  business  to  conclude  with  the 
chiefs.  In  his  journal  is  told  that  he  divided  time  at  a 
Sunday  meeting  with  a  Methodist  preacher.  Returning, 
with  three  companions  and  nine  Navajos,  HambUn  reached 
the  Paria  October  28,  taken  across  by  the  Powell  party, 
though  Powell  had  gone  on  from  Ute  ford  to  Salt  Lake, 
there  to  get  his  family.  The  expedition  had  reached  the 
ford  October  6,  and  had  dropped  down  the  river  to  the 
Paria,  where  arrival  was  on  the  22d.  HambUn  went  on  to 
Salt  Lake. 

The  Sacred  Stone  of  the  Hopi 

The  trust  placed  in  Mormon  visitors  to  the  Hopi  was 
shown  by  exhibition  to  them  of  a  sacred  stone.  On  one  of 
the  visits  of  Andrew  S.  Gibbons,  accompanied  by  his  sons, 

81 


Win.  H.  and  Richard,  the  three  were  guests  of  old  Chief 
Tuba  in  Oraibi.  Tuba  told  of  this  sacred  stone  and  led  his 
friends  down  into  an  underground  kiva,  from  which  Tuba's 
son  was  despatched  into  a  more  remote  chamber.  He 
returned  bringing  the  stone.  Apparently  it  was  of  very 
fine-grained  marble,  about  15x18  inches  in  diameter  and 
a  few  inches  in  thickness.  Its  surface  was  entirely  covered 
with  hieroglyphic  markings,  concerning  which  there  was 
no  attempt  at  translation  at  the  time,  though  there  were 
etched  upon  it  clouds  and  stars.  The  Indians  appeared  to 
have  no  translation  and  only  knew  that  it  was  very  sacred. 
Tuba  said  that  at  one  time  the  stone  incautiously  was 
exhibited  to  an  army  officer,  who  attempted  to  seize  it,  but 
the  Indians  saved  the  rehc  and  hid  it  more  securely. 

The  only  official  record  available  to  this  office,  bearing 
upon  the  stone,  is  found  in  the  preface  of  Ethnological 
Report  No.  4,  as  follows: 

Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert  furnished  some  data  relating  to  the  sacred 
stone  kept  by  the  Indians  of  the  village  of  Oraibi,  on  the  Moki  mesas. 
This  stone  was  seen  by  Messrs.  John  W.  Young  and  Andrew  S.  Gib- 
bons, and  the  notes  were  made  by  Mr,  Gilbert  from  those  furnished 
him  by  Young.  Few  white  men  have  had  access  to  this  sacred  record, 
and  but  few  Indians  have  enjoyed  the  privilege.  The  stone  is  a 
red-clouded  marble,  entirely  different  from  anything  found  in  the 
region. 

In  the  Land  of  the  Navajo 

In  1871,  1872  and  1873  Hamblin  did  much  exploration. 
He  located  a  settlement  on  the  Paria  River,  started  a  ranch 
in  Rock  House  Valley  and  laid  out  a  practicable  route  from 
Lee's  Ferry  to  the  Little  Colorado. 

Actual  use  of  the  Lee's  Ferry  road  by  wagons  was  in 
the  spring  of  1873  by  a  party  headed  by  Lorenzo  W.  Roun- 
dy,  who  crossed  the  Colorado  at  Lee's  Ferry,  passing  on  to 
Navajo  Springs,  seven  miles  beyond,  and  thence  about  ten 
miles  to  Bitter  Springs  and  then  on  to  Moen  Copie.  The 
last  he  described  as  a  place  "a  good  deal  like  St.  George, 
having  many  springs  breaking  out  from  the  hills,  land^ 

82 


limited,  partly  impregnated  with  salts."  He  passed  by  a 
Moqui  village  and  thence  on  to  the  overland  mail  route. 
The  Little  Colorado  was  described  as  "not  quite  the  size 
of  the  Virgin  River,  water  a  little  brackish,  but  better  than 
that  of  the  Virgin."  In  May  of  the  same  year,  Hamblin 
piloted,  as  far  as  Moen  Copie,  the  first  ten  wagons  of  the 
Haight  expedition  that  failed  in  an  attempt  to  found  a 
settlement  on  the  Little  Colorado. 

Just  as  the  Chiricahua  Apaches  to  the  southward  found 
good  picldngs  in  Mexico,  so  the  Navajo  early  recognized  as 
a  storehouse  of  good  things,  for  looting,  the  Mormon  set- 
tlements along  the  southern  border  of  Utah.  A  degree  of 
understanding  was  reached  by  the  Mormons  with  the  Ute. 
There  was  more  or  less  trouble  in  the  earher  days  with  the 
Paiute  farther  westward,  this  tribe  having  a  number  of 
subdivisions  that  had  to  be  successively  pacified  by  moral 
or  forcible  suasion.  But  it  was  with  the  Navajo  that  trouble 
existed  in  the  largest  measure. 

Hambhn  was  absolutely  sure  of  the  identity  of  the 
American  Indians  with  the  Lamanites  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  He  regarded  the  Indians  at  all  times  as  brethren 
who  had  strayed  from  the  righteous  path  and  who  might  be 
brought  back  by  the  exercise  of  piety  and  patience.  Very 
much  like  a  Spanish  friar  of  old,  he  cheerfully  dedicated 
himself  to  this  particular  purpose,  willing  to  accept  even 
martyrdom  if  such  an  end  were  to  serve  the  great  purpose. 
Undoubtedly  this  attitude  was  the  basis  of  his  extraordi- 
nary fortitude  and  of  the  calmness  with  which  he  faced 
difficult  situations.  There  is  admission  by  him,  however, 
that  at  one  time  he  was  very  near  indeed  to  death,  this  in 
the  winter  of  1873-74.  It  is  noted  that  nearly  all  of  Hamb- 
hn's  trips  in  the  wild  lands  of  Arizona  were  at  the  direction 
of  the  Church  authorities,  for  whom  he  acted  as  trail  finder, 
road  marker,  interpreter,  missionary  and  messenger  of 
peace  to  the  aborigines. 

So  it  happened  that  it  was  upon  Hamblin  that  Brigham 

83 


Young  placed  dependence  in  a  very  serious  situation  that 
came  through  the  kilUng  of  three  Navajos,  on  the  east  fork 
of  the  Sevier  River,  a  considerable  distance  into  south- 
central  Utah.  Four  Navajos  had  come  northward  to  trade 
with  the  Ute.  Caught  by  snow,  they  occupied  a  cabin  be- 
longing to  a  non-Mormon  named  McCarty,  incidentally 
killing  one  of  his  calves.  McCarty,  Frank  Starr  and  a  num- 
ber of  associates  descended  upon  the  Indians,  of  whom  one, 
badly  wounded,  escaped  across  the  river,  taking  tidings  to 
his  tribesmen  that  the  murder  had  been  by  Mormons.  The 
Indian  was  not  subtle  enough  to  distinguish  between  sects, 
and  so  there  was  a  call  for  bloody  reprisals,  directed  against 
the  southern  Mormon  settlements.  The  Indian  Agent  at 
Defiance  sent  an  investigating  party  that  included  J. 
Lorenzo  Hubbell. 
Hamblin's  Greatest  Experience 

In  January,  1874,  Hamblin  left  Kanab  alone,  on  a  mis- 
sion that  was  intended  to  pacify  thousands  of  savage  In- 
dians. Possibly  since  St.  Patrick  invaded  Erin,  no  bolder 
episode  had  been  known  in  history.  He  was  overtaken  by 
his  son  with  a  note  from  Levi  Stewart,  advising  return,  but 
steadfastly  kept  on,  declaring,  "I  have  been  appointed  to 
a  mission  by  the  highest  authority  of  God  on  earth.  My 
life  is  of  small  moment  compared  with  the  lives  of  the  Saints 
and  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  I  determined  to 
trust  in  the  Lord  and  go  on."  At  Moen  Copie  Wash  he  was 
joined  by  J.  E.  Smith  and  brother,  not  Mormons,  but  men 
filled  with  a  spirit  of  adventure,  for  they  were  well  informed 
concerning  the  prospective  Navajo  uprising.  At  a  point  a 
day's  ride  to  the  eastward  of  Tuba's  home  on  Moen  Copie 
Wash,  the  three  arrived  at  a  Navajo  village,  from  which 
messengers  were  sent  out  summoning  a  council. 

The  next  noon,  about  February  1,  the  council  started, 
in  a  lodge  twenty  feet  long  by  twelve  feet  wide,  constructed 
of  logs,  leaning  to  the  center  and  covered  with  dirt.  There 
was  only  one  entrance.    Hamblin  and  the  Smiths  were  at 

84 


EARLY  MISSIONARIES  AMONG  THE  INDIANS 


1 — Andrew  S.   Gibbons 
3 — James   Pearce 


2 — Frederick    Hamblin 
4 — Samuel  N.   Adair 


the  farther  end.  Between  them  and  the  door  were  24  Nava- 
jos.  In  the  second  day's  council  came  the  critical  time. 
HambUn  knew  no  Navajo  and  there  had  to  be  resort  to  a 
Paiute  interpreter,  a  captive,  terrified  by  fear  that  he  too 
might  be  sacrificed  if  his  interpretation  proved  unpleasant. 
His  digest  of  a  fierce  Navajo  discussion  of  an  hour  was  that 
the  Indians  had  concluded  all  HambUn  had  said  concerning 
the  kilhng  of  the  three  men  was  a  lie,  that  he  was  suspected 
of  being  a  party  to  the  kilUng,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
three  of  the  older  Indians,  all  present  had  voted  for  Hamb- 
lin's  death.  They  had  distinguished  the  Smiths  as  "Ameri- 
cans," but  they  were  to  witness  the  torture  of  HambUn  and 
then  be  sent  back  to  the  Colorado  on  foot.  The  Navajos 
referred  especially  to  HambUn's  counsel  that  the  tribe  cross 
the  river  and  trade  with  the  Mormons.  Thus  they  had 
lost  three  good  young  men,  who  lay  on  the  northern  land  for 
the  wolves  to  eat.  The  fourth  was  produced  to  show  his 
wounds  and  tell  how  he  had  traveled  for  thirteen  days, 
cold  and  hungry  and  without  a  blanket.  There  was  sug- 
gestion that  HambUn's  death  might  be  upon  a  bed  of  coals 
that  smoked  in  the  middle  of  the  lodge. 

The  Smiths  tightened  their  grasps  upon  their  revolvers. 
In  a  letter  written  by  one  of  them  was  stated: 

Had  we  shown  a  symptom  of  fear,  we  were  lost;  but  we  sat  perfectly- 
quiet,  and  kept  a  wary  eye  on  the  foe.  It  was  a  thrilling  scene.  The 
erect,  proud,  athletic  form  of  the  young  chief  as  he  stood  pointing  his 
finger  at  the  kneeUng  figure  before  him;  the  circle  of  crouching  forms; 
their  dusky  and  painted  faces  animated  by  every  passion  that  hatred 
and  ferocity  could  inspire,  and  their  glittering  eyes  fixed  with  one 
malignant  impulse  upon  us;  the  whole  partially  illuminated  by  the 
fitful  gleam  of  the  firelight  (for  by  this  time  it  was  dark),  formed  a 
picture  not  easy  to  be  forgotten. 

Hamblin  behaved  with  admirable  coolness.  Not  a  muscle  in  his 
face  quivered,  not  a  feature  changed  as  he  communicated  to  us,  in 
his  usual  tone  of  voice,  what  we  then  fully  believed  to  be  the  death 
warrant  of  us  all.  When  the  interpreter  ceased,  he,  in  the  same  easy 
tone  and  collected  manner,  commenced  his  reply.  He  reminded  the 
Indians  of  his  long  acquaintance  with  their  tribe,  of  the  many  nego- 
tiations he  had  conducted  between  his  people  and  theirs,  and  his  many 

85 


dealings  with  them  in  years  gone  by,  and  challenged  them  to  prove 
that  he  had  ever  deceived  them,  ever  had  spoken  with  a  forked 
tongue.  He  drew  a  map  of  the  country  on  the  ground,  and  showed 
them  the  improbability  of  his  having  been  a  participant  in  the  affray. 

In  the  end,  the  three  were  released  after  a  discussion 
in  the  stifling  lodge  that  had  lasted  for  eleven  hours, 
"with  every  nerve  strained  to  its  utmost  tension  and 
momentarily  expecting  a  conflict  which  must  be  to  the 
death." 

The  Indians  had  demanded  350  head  of  cattle  as  re- 
compense, a  settlement  that  HambUn  refused  to  make, 
but  which  he  stated  he  would  put  before  the  Church 
authorities.  Twenty-five  days  later,  according  to  agree- 
ment, he  met  a  delegation  of  Indians  at  Moabi.  Later  he 
took  Chief  Hastele,  a  well-disposed  Navajo,  and  a  party 
of  Indians  to  the  spot  where  the  young  men  had  been  killed, 
and  there  demonstrated,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Indians, 
the  falsity  of  the  accusation  that  Mormons  had  been 
responsible. 

In  April,  1874,  understanding  that  the  missionaries 
south  of  the  river  were  in  grave  danger,  a  party  of  35  men 
from  Kanab  and  Long  Valley,  led  by  John  R.  Young,  was 
dispatched  southward.  At  Moen  Copie  was  found  a  gather- 
ing of  about  forty.  It  appeared  the  reinforcement  was  just 
in  time,  as  a  Navajo  attack  on  the  post  had  been  planned. 
Hamblin  persisted  in  braving  all  danger  and  set  out  with 
Ammon  M.  Tenney  and  a  few  others  for  Fort  Defiance, 
but  found  it  unnecessary  to  go  beyond  Oraibi. 

The  Utah  affair,  after  agency  investigation,  was  brought 
up  again  at  Fort  Defiance,  August  21,  with  Hamblin  and 
Tenney  present,  and  settled  in  a  way  that  left  Hamblin 
full  of  thanksgiving. 

In  1875,  Hambhn  located  a  road  from  St.  George  to  the 
Colorado  River,  by  way  of  Grand  Wash. 

The  Old  Scout's  Later  Years 

In  May,  1876,  Hambhn  served  as  guide  for  Daniel  H. 


Wells,  Erastus  Snow  and  a  number  of  other  leading  men  of 
Utah  on  their  way  to  visit  the  new  Arizona  settlements. 
The  Colorado  was  at  flood  and  the  passage  at  Lee's  Ferry, 
May  28,  was  a  dangerous  one.  The  ferryboat  bow  was  drawn 
under  water  by  the  surges  and  the  boat  swept  clear  of  three 
wagons,  wdth  the  attendant  men  and  their  luggage.  One 
man  was  lost,  Lorenzo  W.  Roundy,  beUeved  to  have  been 
taken  with  a  cramp.  His  body  never  was  found.  L.  John 
Nuttall  and  Hamblin  swam  to  safety  on  the  same  oar. 
Lorenzo  Hatch,  Warren  Johnson  and  another  clung  to  a 
wagon  from  which  they  were  taken  off  by  a  skiff  just  as 
they  were  going  over  the  rapids. 

In  the  same  year,  in  December,  HambUn  was  assigned 
by  President  Young  to  lay  out  a  wagon  route  from  Pearce's 
Ferry,  south  of  St.  George,  to  Sunset  on  the  Little  Colorado. 
The  Colorado  was  crossed  at  a  point  five  miles  above  the 
old  crossing.  The  animals  were  made  to  swim  and  the  lug- 
gage was  conveyed  in  a  hastily  constructed  skiff.  The 
route  was  a  desert  one,  about  on  the  same  line  as  that  to  be 
used  by  the  proposed  Arizona-Utah  highway  between  Grand 
Wash  and  the  present  Santa  Fe  railroad  station  of  Antares. 
Returning,  Hamblin  went  as  far  south  as  Fort  Verde,  where 
Post  Trader  W.  S.  Head  advanced,  without  money,  pro- 
visions enough  to  last  until  the  party  arrived  at  the  Colo- 
rado, south  of  St.  George. 

An  interview  at  St.  George  with  President  Young 
succeeding  this  trip  was  the  last  known  by  Hamblin  with 
the  Church  head,  for  the  President  died  the  following 
August.  In  that  interview,  December  15,  1876,  HambUn 
formally  was  ordained  as  "Apostle  to  the  Lamanites." 

In  the  spring  of  1877,  Hamblin  journeyed  again  into 
Arizona  by  the  Lee's  Ferry  route  to  the  Hopi  towns,  trying 
to  find  an  escaping  criminal.  On  this  trip,  the  Hopi  im- 
plored him  to  pray  for  rain,  as  their  crops  were  dying. 
Possibly  through  his  appeal  to  grace,  rain  fell  very  soon 
thereafter,  assuring  the  Indians  a  crop  of  corn,  squashes 

87 


and  beans.  There  was  little  rain  elsewhere.  When  HambHn 
returned  to  his  own  home,  he  found  his  crops  burned  from 
drouth. 

The  estimation  in  which  the  Indians  held  the  old 
scout  may  have  indication  in  a  story  told  lately  in  the 
Historian's  office  by  Jacob  Hamblin  Jr.     It  follows: 

One  day  my  father  sent  me  to  trade  a  horse  with  an  old  Navajo 
Indian  chief.  I  was  a  little  fellow  and  I  went  on  horseback,  leading 
the  horse  to  be  traded.  The  old  chief  came  out  and  lifted  me  down 
from  my  horse.  I  told  him  my  father  wanted  me  to  trade  the  horse 
for  some  blankets.  He  brought  out  a  number  of  handsome  blankets, 
but,  as  my  father  had  told  me  to  be  sure  and  make  a  good  trade,  I 
shook  my  head  and  said  I  would  have  to  have  more.  He  then  brought 
out  two  buffalo  robes  and  quite  a  number  of  other  blankets  and  finally , 
when  I  thought  I  had  done  very  well,  I  took  the  roll  on  my  horse,  and 
started  for  home.  When  I  gave  the  blankets  to  my  father,  he  unrolled 
them,  looked  at  them,  and  then  began  to  separate  them.  He  put 
blanket  after  blanket  into  a  roll  and  then  did  them  up  and  told  me  to 
get  on  my  horse  and  take  them  back  and  tell  the  chief  he  had  sent  me 
too  many.  When  I  got  back,  the  old  chief  took  them  and  smiled.  He 
said,  "I  knew  you  would  come  back;  I  knew  Jacob  would  not  keep  so 
many;  you  know  Jacob  is  our  father,  as  well  as  your  father." 

In  1878  Hamblin  moved  to  Arizona  and  was  made  a 
counselor  to  President  Lot  Smith.  He  was  appointed  in 
1879  to  preside  over  the  Saints  in  Round  Valley,  the  present 
Springerville,  hving  at  Fort  Milligan,  about  one  mile  west 
of  the  present  Eagar. 

He  died  of  malarial  fever,  August  31,  1886,  at  Pleasan- 
ton,  in  WiUiams  Valley,  New  Mexico,  where  a  settlement 
of  Saints  had  been  made  in  October,  1882. 

Hambhn's  remains  were  removed  from  Pleasanton  be- 
fore 1889,  to  Alpine,  Arizona,  where  was  erected  a  shaft 
bearing  this  very  appropriate  inscription: 

In  memory  of 
JACOB  V.  HAMBLIN, 

Born  April  2,  1819, 

Died  August  31,  1886. 

Peacemaker  in  the  Camp  of  the  Lamanites. 


88 


Chapter  Nine 


Early  Use  of  "El  Vado  de  Los  Padres" 

The  story  of  the  Colorado  is  most  pertinent  in  a  work 
such  as  this,  for  the  river  and  its  Grand  Canyon  formed  a 
barrier  that  must  be  passed  if  the  southward  extension  of 
Zion  were  to  become  an  accomphshed  fact.  Much  of  detail 
has  been  given  elsewhere  concerning  the  means  of  passage 
used  by  the  exploring,  missionary  and  settlement  expedi- 
tions that  had  so  much  to  do  with  Arizona's  development. 
In  this  chapter  there  will  be  elaboration  only  to  the  extent 
of  consideration  of  the  ferries  and  fords  that  were  used. 

The  highest  of  the  possible  points  for  the  crossing  of 
the  Colorado  in  Arizona,  is  on  the  very  Utah  line,  in  lati- 
tude 37.  It  is  the  famous  "Vado  de  los  Padres,"  the  Cross- 
ing of  the  Fathers,  also  known  as  the  Ute  ford.  The  first 
historic  reference  concerning  it  is  in  the  journal  of  the 
famous  Escalante-Dominguez  priestly  expedition  of  1776. 
The  party  returning  from  its  trip  northward  as  far  as  Utah 
Lake,  reached  the  river,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Paria,  about 
November  1.  The  stream  was  found  too  deep,  so  there  was 
a  scaling  of  hills  to  the  Ute  ford,  which  was  reached  Novem- 
ber 8. 

This  ford  is  approached  from  the  northward  by  natural 
steps  down  the  precipices,  traveled  by  horses  with  some 
difficulty.  On  the  southern  side,  egress  is  by  way  of  a  long 
canyon  that  has  few  difficulties  of  passage.  The  ford,  which 
is  illustrated  in  the  frontispiece  of  this  work,  reproduced 
from  an  official  drawing  of  the  Wheeler  expedition,  may  be 
used  more  than  half  the  year.    In  springtime  the  stream 

89 


is  deep  when  the  melted  snows  of  the  Rockies  are  drained 
by  the  spring  freshet.  Usually,  the  Mormon  expeditions 
southward  started  well  after  the  summer  season,  when  the 
crossing  could  be  made  without  particular  danger. 

The  Ute  ford  could  hardly  be  made  possible  for  wagon 
transportation,  so  there  was  early  effort  to  find  a  route  for 
a  through  road.  As  early  as  November,  1858,  with  some 
such  idea  in  view,  Jacob  Hamblin  was  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Paria,  35  miles  southwest  of  the  Ute  ford,  but  was  com- 
pelled, then  and  also  in  November,  1859,  to  pursue  his 
journey  on,  over  the  hills,  to  the  ford. 

Ferrying  at  the  Paria  Mouth 

The  first  crossing  of  the  river,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Paria,  was  made  by  a  portion  of  a  party,  headed  by  Hamb- 
lin, in  the  fall  of  1860.  A  raft  was  constructed,  on  which 
a  few  were  taken  across,  but,  after  one  animal  had  been 
drowned  and  there  had  been  apparent  demonstration  that 
the  dangers  were  too  great,  and  that  there  was  lack  of  a 
southern  outlet,  the  party  made  its  way  up  the  river  to  the 
ford. 

The  first  successful  crossing  at  the  Paria  was  in  March, 
1864,  by  HambUn,  on  a  raft.  The  following  year  there 
was  a  Mormon  settlement  at  or  near  the  Paria  mouth. 
August  4,  1869,  the  first  of  the  Powell  expeditions  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Paria,  this  on  the  trip  that  ended  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Virgin. 

In  September,  1869,  Hamblin  crossed  by  means  of  a 
raft.  That  the  route  had  been  definitely  determined  upon 
was  indicated  by  the  establishment,  January  31,  1870,  of 
a  Paria  fort,  with  guards.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  President 
Brigham  Young  visited  the  Paria,  as  is  shown  in  a  letter 
written  by  W.  T.  Stewart,  this  after  the  President  had 
seen  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin  and  otherwise  had  shown  his 
interest  in  a  southern  outlet  for  Utah.  In  this  same  year, 
according  to  Dellenbaugh,  Major  Powell  built  a  rough 
scow,  in  order  to  reach  the  Moqui  towns.    This  was  the 

90 


crossing  in  October,  when  Jacob  Hamblin  guided  Powell  to 
the  Moqui  villages  and  Fort  Defiance. 

In  his  expedition  of  1871,  Powell  left  the  river  at  the 
Ute  ford  and  went  to  Salt  Lake.  A  few  days  later,  October 
22,  his  men,  with  a  couple  of  boats,  reached  the  Paria  for 
a  lengthy  stay,  surveying  on  the  Kaibab  plateau,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Kanab.  It  was  written  that  the  boat  **Emma 
Dean"  was  hidden  across  the  river.  By  that  time  ferry 
service  had  been  estabhshed,  for  on  October  28,  1871, 
Jacob  Hamblin  and  companions,  on  their  way  home  from 
the  south,  were  rowed  across. 

John  D.  Lee  on  the  Colorado 

It  is  remarkable,  in  the  march  of  history,  how  there  will 
chng  to  a  spot  a  name  that,  probably,  should  not  have  been 
attached  and  that  should  be  forgotten.  This  happens  to  be 
the  case  with  Lee's  Ferry,  a  designation  now  commonly 
accepted  for  the  mouth  of  the  Paria,  though  it  commemo- 
rates the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre,  through  the  name 
of  the  leading  culprit  in  that  awful  frontier  tragedy.  Yet 
John  Doyle  Lee  was  at  the  river  only  a  few  years  of  all  the 
years  of  the  ferry's  long  period  of  use.  The  name  seems  to 
have  been  started  within  that  time,  firmly  fixed  in  the 
chronicles  of  the  Powell  expedition,  in  the  books  of  the 
expeditions  later  and  of  Dellenbaugh. 

John  D.  Lee  located  at  the  mouth  of  the  Paria  early  in 
1872  and  named  it  "Lonely  Dell,"  by  Dellenbaugh  con- 
sidered a  most  appropriate  designation.  Lee  built  a  log 
cabin  and  acquired  some  ferry  rights  that  had  been  pos- 
sessed by  the  Church. 

An  interesting  detail  of  the  ferry  is  given  by  J.  H. 
Beadle,  in  his  "Western  Wilds."  He  told  of  reaching  the 
ferry  from  the  south  June  28,  1872.  The  attention  of  a 
ferryman  could  not  be  attracted,  so  there  was  use  of  a 
boat  that  was  found  hidden  in  the  sand  and  brush.  This 
was  the  "Emma  Dean,"  left  by  Powell.  The  ferryman 
materiaHzed  two  days  later,  calling  himself  "Major  Doyle," 

91 


but  his  real  identity  was  developed  soon  thereafter.  Beadle 
gives  about  a  chapter  to  his  interview  with  Lee,  whom  he 
called  "a  born  fanatic.*'  Beadle,  who  had  written  much 
against  the  Church,  also  had  given  a  false  name,  but  his 
identity  was  discovered  by  Mrs.  Lee  through  clothing 
marks.  Beadle  quoted  "Mrs.  Doyle"  as  saying  that  her 
husband  had  been  with  the  Mormon  Battalion.  This  was 
hardly  exact,  though  it  does  appear  that  Lee,  October 
19,  1846,  was  in  Santa  Fe  with  Howard  Egan,  the  couple 
returning  to  Council  Bluffs  with  pay  checks  the  Battalion 
members  were  sending  back  toward  the  support  of  their 
famines.  The  two  messengers  had  overtaken  the  Battahon 
at  the  Arkansas  crossing.  But  Beadle  slept  safely  in  Lee's 
house,  which  he  left  on  Independence  Day,  departing  by 
way  of  Jacob's  Pools. 

July  13,  another  of  Powell's  boats  was  brought  down 
the  river.  Just  a  month  later,  Powell  arrived  at  Lonely 
Dell  from  Kanab.  August  17,  he  started  down  the  river 
again  from  the  Paria,  leaving  the  "Nellie  Powell"  to  the 
ferryman.  This  trip  was  of  short  duration,  for  the  river 
was  left,  finally,  at  Kanab  Wash. 

N  In  May,  1873,  came  the  first  of  the  real  southern  Mor- 
mon migration.  This  was  when  H.  D.  Haight  and  his  party 
crossed  the  river  at  the  Paria,  on  a  trip  that  extended  only 
about  to  Grand  Falls,  but  which  was  notable  from  the  fact 
that  it  laid  out  the  first  Mormon  wagon  road  south  of  the 
river,  down  to  and  along  the  Little  Colorado. 

October  15,  1873,  was  launched  at  the  ferry,  by  John 
L.  Blythe,  a  much  larger  boat  than  had  been  known  before, 
made  of  timber  brought  from  a  remote  point  near  the  Utah 
line.  That  same  winter  Hamblin  located  a  new  road  from 
the  Paria  mouth  to  the  San  Francisco  Mountains. 

In  June  of  1874,  an  Indian  trading  post  was  established 
at  the  ferry  and  there  was  erection  of  what  was  called  a 
"strong  fort." 

In  the  fall  of  1874,  Lee  departed  from  the  river,  this 

92 


for  the  purpose  of  securing  provisions  in  the  southern 
settlements  of  Utah.  Several  travelers  noted  in  their 
journals  that  Lee  wanted  nothing  but  provisions  in  exchange 
for  ferry  tolls.  It  was  on  this  trip  he  was  captured  by  United 
States  marshals  in  southern  Utah,  thereafter  to  be  tried, 
convicted  and  legally  executed  by  shooting  (March  23, 
1877),  on  the  spot  where  his  crime  had  been  committed. 

Lee's  Canyon  Residence  Was  Brief 

Much  of  romance  is  attached  to  Lee's  residence  on  the 
Colorado.  The  writer  has  heard  many  tales  how  Lee  worked 
rich  gold  deposits  nearb}^  how  he  explored  the  river  and 
its  canyons  and  how,  for  a  time,  he  was  in  seclusion  among 
the  Hava-Supai  Indians  in  the  remote  Cataract  Canyon, 
to  which,  there  was  assumption,  he  had  brought  the  fruit 
seeds  from  which  sprang  the  Indian  orchards.  This  would 
appear  to  be  mainly  assumption,  for  Lee  made  his  living  by 
casual  ferrying,  and  had  to  be  on  hand  when  the  casual 
traveler  called  for  his  services.  Many  of  the  old  tales  are 
plausible,  and  have  had  acceptance  in  previous  writings 
of  the  Author,  but  it  now  appears  that  Lee's  residence  on 
the  Canyon  was  only  as  above  stated.  J.  Lorenzo  Hubbell 
states  that  Lee  was  at  Moen  Copie  for  a  while  before 
going  to  take  charge  of  the  ferry. 

In  the  summer  of  1877,  Ephriam  K.  Hanks  was  advised 
by  President  Brigham  Young  to  buy  the  ferry,  but  this 
plan  fell  through  on  the  death  of  the  President.  The  ferry, 
later,  was  bought  from  Emma  Lee  by  Warren  M.  Johnson, 
as  Church  agent,  he  paying  100  cows,  which  were  con- 
tributed by  the  people  of  southern  Utah  and  northern 
Arizona  settlements,  they  receiving  tithing  credits  therefor. 

About  ten  years  ago,  Lee's  Ferry  was  visited  by  Miss 
Sharlot  M.  Hall,  Arizona  Territorial  Historian.  She  wrote 
entertainingly  of  her  trip,  by  wagon,  northwest  into  the 
Arizona  Strip,  much  of  her  diary  pubUshed  in  1912  in 
the  Arizona  Magazine.  The  Lee  log  cabin  showed  that  some 
of  its  logs  originally  had  been  used  in  some  sort  of  raft  or 

93 


rude  ferryboat.  There  also  was  found  in  the  yard  a  boat, 
said  to  have  been  one  of  those  of  the  Powell  expedition. 
This  may  have  been  the  "Nellie  Powell." 

Of  the  Lee  occupancy,  Miss  Hall  tells  a  little  story 
that  gives  insight  into  the  trials  of  the  women  of  the 
frontier  : 

When  Lee's  wife  stayed  here  alone,  as  she  did  much  of  the  time, 
the  Navajo  Indians  often  crossed  here  and  they  were  not  always 
friendly.  A  party  of  them  came  one  night  and  built  their  campfire 
in  the  yard  and  Mrs.  Lee  understood  enough  of  their  talk  to  know 
she  was  in  danger.  Brave  woman  as  she  was,  she  knew  she  must 
overawe  them,  and  she  took  her  little  children  and  went  out  and 
spread  a  bed  near  the  fire  in  the  midst  of  the  hostile  camp  and  stayed 
there  till  morning.  WTien  the  Navajos  rode  away  they  called  her  a 
brave  woman  and  said  she  should  be  safe  in  the  future. 

The  first  real  ferryboat  was  that  built  by  John  L. 
Blythe,  on  October  15,  1873,  a  barge  20x40  feet,  one  that 
would  hold  two  wagons,  loads  and  teams.  It  was  in  this 
boat  that  the  Jas.  S.  Brown  party  crossed  in  1875,  and  a 
much  larger  migration  to  the  Little  Colorado  in  the  spring  of 
1876. 

In  1877,  there  was  consideration  of  the  use  of  the 
Paria  road,  as  a  means  for  hauHng  freight  into  Arizona,  at 
least  as  far  as  Prescott,  which  was  estimated  by  R.  J. 
Hinton  as  448  miles  distant  from  the  terminus,  at  that 
time,  of  the  Utah  Southern  Railroad.  Via  St.  George  and 
Grand  Wash,  the  haul  was  set  at  391  miles,  though  the 
Paria  route  seemed  to  be  preferred.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  at  that  time  the  nearest  railroad  was  west  of 
Yuma,  a  desert  journey  from  Prescott  of  about  350 
miles. 

Crossing  the  Colorado  on  the  Ice 

The  Paria  crossing  had  served  as  route  of  most  of  the 
Mormon  migration  south.  The  ferry  has  been  passed 
occasionally  by  river  explorers,  particularly  by  the  Stanton 
expedition,  which  reached  that  point  on  Christmas  Day, 
1889,  in  the  course  of  a  trip  down  the  Colorado  that  ex- 


94 


tended  as  far  as  salt  water.  The  ferryboat  was  not  needed 
at  one  stage  of  the  history  of  Lee's  Ferry.  The  story  comes 
in  the  journals  of  several  members  of  a  missionary  party. 
Anthony  W.  Ivins  (now  a  member  of  the  Church  First 
Presidency)  and  Erastus  B.  Snow  reached  the  river  Janu- 
ary 16,  1878,  about  the  same  time  as  did  John  W.  Young 
and  a  number  of  prospective  settlers  bound  for  the  Little 
Colorado.  The  Snow  narrative  of  the  experience 
follows : 

The  Colorado  River,  the  Little  Colorado  and  all  the  springs  and 
watering  places  were  frozen  over.  Many  of  the  springs  and  tanks 
were  entirely  frozen  up,  so  that  we  were  compelled  to  melt  snow  and 
ice  for  our  teams.  We  (that  is  J.  W.  Young  and  I),  crossed  our  team 
and  wagon  on  the  ice  over  the  Colorado.  I  assure  you  it  was  quite 
a  novelty  to  me,  to  cross  such  a  stream  of  water  on  ice;  many  other 
heavily  loaded  wagons  did  the  same,  some  with  2500  pounds  on. 
One  party  did  a  very  foolish  trick,  which  resulted  in  the  loss  of  an 
ox;  they  attempted  to  cross  three  head  of  large  cattle  all  yoked  and 
chained  together,  and  one  of  the  wheelers  stepped  on  a  chain  that 
was  dragging  behind,  tripped  and  fell,  pulling  his  mate  with  him, 
thereby  bringing  such  a  heft  on  the  ice  that  it  broke  through,  letting 
the  whole  into  the  water;  but  the  ice  being  sufficiently  strong  they  could 
stand  on  it  and  pull  them  out  one  at  a  time.  One  got  under  the  ice 
and  was  drowned,  the  live  one  swimming  some  length  of  time  hold- 
ing the  dead  one  up  by  the  yoke. 

Concerning  the  same  trip,  Mr.  Ivins  has  written  the 
Arizona  Historian  that,  "the  river  was  frozen  from  shore 
to  shore,  but,  above  and  below  for  a  short  distance,  the 
river  was  open  and  running  rapidly."  Great  care  was 
taken  in  crossing,  the  wagons  with  their  loads  usually 
pulled  over  by  hand  and  the  horses  taken  over  singly. 
Thus  the  ice  was  cracked.  Mr.  Ivins  recites  the  episode 
of  the  oxen  and  then  tells  that  a  herd  of  cattle  was  taken 
across  by  throwing  each  animal,  tying  its  legs  and  drag- 
ging it  across.  One  man  could  drag  a  grown  cow  over  the 
smooth  ice.  Mr.  Ivins  tells  that  he  remained  at  the  river 
several  days,  crossing  on  the  ice  32  times.  On  the  22d  the 
missionaries  and  settlers  all  were  at  Navajo  Springs,  ready 

95 


to  continue  the  journey.    It  is  believed  that  the  Colorado 
has  not  been  frozen  over  since  that  time. 

There  now  is  prospect  that  the  Paria  route  between 
Utah  and  Arizona  will  be  much  bettered  by  construction 
of  a  road  that  avoids  Paria  Creek  and  attains  the  summit  of 
the  mesa,  to  the  northward,  within  a  comparatively  short 
distance.  At  a  point  six  miles  below  the  ferry,  the  County  of 
Coconino,  with  national  aid,  is  preparing  for  construction  of 
a  suspension  bridge,  with  a  400-foot  span.  Upon  its  comple- 
tion, Lee's  Ferry  will  pass,  save  for  its  place  in  history. 
Crossings  Below  the  Grand  Canyon 

Below  Lee's  Ferry  comes  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the 
Colorado,  cut  a  full  mile  deep  for  about  200  miles,  in  a  wind- 
ing channel,  with  only  occasional  spots  where  trails  are 
feasible  to  the  river's  edge.  A  suspension  bridge  is  being 
erected  by  the  United  States  Forest  Service  below  El  Tovar, 
with  a  trail  northward  up  Bright  Angel  Canyon.  A  feasible 
trail  exists  from  the  mouth  of  Kanab  Wash  to  the  north- 
ward. To  the  southward  there  is  possibiUty  of  approach 
to  the  river  by  wagon  at  Diamond  Creek,  but  the  first  real 
crossing  lies  immediately  below  the  great  Canyon  at  Grand 
Wash,  a  point  where  there  was  ferrying,  in  1862,  by  Hamb- 
hn  and  a  party  who  brought  a  boat  from  Kanab.  Return 
on  this  expedition  was  via  the  Ute  ford.  HambUn,  with 
Lewis  Greeley,  crossed  again  at  the  Grand  Wash  in  April, 
1863,  and  there  is  record  of  a  later  trip  of  indefinite  date, 
made  by  him  on  the  river  from  Grand  Wash  to  Callville, 
in  company  with  Crosby  and  Miller.  Several  of  the  Hamb- 
Un expeditions  crossed  at  Grand  Wash  in  the  years  there- 
after, but  it  appears  that  it  was  not  until  December,  1876, 
that  a  regular  ferry  there  was  established,  this  by  Harrison 
Pearce.  The  place  bears  the  name  of  Pearce's  Ferry  unto 
this  day,  though  the  maps  give  it  as  "Pierce."  A  son  of 
Harrison  Pearce,  and  former  assistant  in  the  operation  of 
the  ferry,  James  Pearce,  was  the  first  settler  of  Taylor  on 
Silver  Creek,  Arizona,  where  he  still  resides. 

96 


The  next  ferry  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin,  where 
there  were  boats  for  crossing  at  necessity,  including  the  time 
when  President  Brigham  Young  and  party  visited  the 
locahty,  in  March,  1870.  When  the  settlers  on  the  Muddy 
and  the  Virgin  balloted  upon  the  proposition  of  abandoning 
the  country,  Daniel  Bonelli  and  wife  were  the  only  ones 
who  voted  the  negative.  When  the  Saints  left  southern 
Nevada,  Bonelli  and  wife  moved  to  a  point  about  six  miles 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin,  and  there  established  a 
ferry  that  still  is  owned  by  a  son  of  the  founder.  This  is 
the  same  noted  on  government  maps  as  Stone's  Ferry, 
though  there  has  been  a  change  of  a  few  miles  in  location. 
About  midway  between  the  Virgin  and  Grand  Wash, 
about  1881,  was  established  the  Mike  Scanlon  ferry. 
Downstream,  early-day  ferries  were  operated  at  the  El 
Dorado  canyon  crossing  and  on  the  SearchHght  road,  at 
Cottonwood  Island.  W.  H.  Hardy  ferried  at  Hardy ville. 
About  the  later  site  of  Fort  Mohave,  Capt.  Geo.  A.  John- 
ston, January  23,  1858,  in  a  stern  wheel  steamer,  ferried  the 
famous  Beale  camel  expedition  across  the  river. 

Settlements  North  of  the  Canyon 

Moccasin  Springs,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  Utah  Una 
and  eighteen  miles  by  road  southwest  of  Kanab,  has  had 
no  large  population  at  any  time,  save  that  about  100  Indians 
were  in  the  vicinity  in  1900.  The  place  got  its  name  from 
moccasin  tracks  in  the  sand.  The  site  was  occupied  some 
time  before  1864  by  Wm.  B.  Maxwell,  but  was  vacated  in 
1866  on  account  of  Indian  troubles.  In  the  spring  of  1870, 
Levi  Stewart  and  others  stopped  there  for  a  while,  with  a 
considerable  company,  breaking  land,  but  moved  on  to 
found  Kanab,  north  of  the  line.  This  same  company  also 
made  some  improvements  around  Pipe  Springs.  About  a 
year  later,  a  company  under  Lewis  Allen,  mainly  from  the 
Muddy,  located  temporarily  at  Pipe  Springs  and  Moccasin. 
To  some  extent  there  was  a  claim  upon  the  two  localities 
by  the  United  Order  or  certain  of  its  members.    The  place 

97 


for  years  was  mainly  a  missionary  settlement,  but  it  was 
told  that  "even  when  the  brethren  would  plow  and  plant 
for  them,  the  Indians  were  actually  too  lazy  to  attend  to 
the  growing  crops." 

That  the  cUmate  of  Moccasin  favors  growth  of  sturdy 
manhood  is  indicated  by  the  history  of  one  of  its  families, 
that  of  Jonathan  Heaton.  At  hand  is  a  photograph  taken 
in  1905,  of  Heaton  and  his  fifteen  sons.  Two  of  the  sons 
died  in  accidents  within  the  past  two  years,  but  the  others 
all  grew  to  manhood,  and  all  were  registered  for  the  draft 
in  the  late  war.  With  the  photograph  is  a  record  that,  of 
the  whole  family,  not  one  individual  has  tasted  tea,  coffee, 
tobacco  or  liquor  of  any  kind. 

Arizona's  First  Telegraph  Station 

Pipe  Springs  is  situate  three  miles  south  of  Moccasin 
Springs  and  eight  miles  south  of  the  Utah  Une.  It  was 
settled  as  early  as  1863  by  Dr.  Jas.  M.  Whit  more,  who  owned 
the  place  when  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians  January  8, 
1866.  President  Brigham  Young  purchased  the  claims  of 
the  Whit  more  estate  and  in  1870  there  established  head- 
quarters of  a  Church  herd,  in  charge  of  Anson  P.  Winsor. 
Later  was  organized  the  Winsor  Castle  Stock  Growing 
Company,  in  which  the  Church  and  President  Young  held 
controlling  interest.  It  is  notable  that  one  of  the  directors 
was  Alexander  F.  Macdonald,  later  President  of  Maricopa 
Stake.  At  the  spring,  late  in  1870,  was  erected  a  sizable  stone 
building,  usually  known  as  Winsor  Castle,  a  safe  refuge 
from  savages,  or  others,  with  portholes  in  the  walls.  In 
1879  the  company  had  consohdation  with  the  Canaan  Co- 
operative Stock  Company.  The  name.  Pipe  Springs,  had 
its  origin,  according  to  A.  W.  Ivins,  in  a  halt  made  there 
by  Jacob  Hamblin  and  others.  WilHam  Hamblin  claimed 
he  could  shoot  the  bottom  out  of  Dudley  Leavitt's  pipe  at 
25  yards,  without  breaking  the  bowl.  This  he  proceeded 
to  do. 

Pipe  Springs  was  a  station  of  the  Deseret  Telegraph, 

98 


extended  in  1871  from  Rockville  to  Kanab.  While  the 
latter  points  are  in  Utah,  the  wires  were  strung  southward 
around  a  mountainous  country  along  the  St.  George-Kanab 
road.  This  would  indicate  location  of  the  first  telegraph 
hne  within  Arizona,  as  the  first  in  the  south,  a  miUtary  fine 
from  Fort  Yuma  to  Maricopa  Wells,  Phoenix,  Prescott  and 
Tucson,  was  not  built  till  1873. 

Arizona's  Northernmost  Village 

Fredonia  is  important  especially  as  the  northernmost 
settlement  of  Arizona,  being  only  three  miles  south  of  the 
37th  parallel  that  divides  Utah  and  this  State.  It  hes  on  the 
east  bank  of  Kanab  Creek,  and  is  the  center  of  a  small 
tract  of  farming  land,  apparently  ample  for  the  needs  of  the 
few  settlers,  who  have  their  principal  support  from  stock 
raising.  The  first  settlement  was  from  Kanab  in  the  spring 
of  1885,  by  Thomas  Frain  Dobson,  who  located  his  family 
in  a  log  house  two  miles  below  the  present  Fredonia  town- 
site.  The  following  year  the  townsite  was  surveyed  and 
there  was  occupation  by  Henry  J.  Hortt  and  a  number  of 
others. 

The  name  was  suggested  by  Erastus  Snow,  who  visited 
the  settlement  in  its  earliest  days,  naturally  coming  from 
the  fact  that  many  of  the  residents  were  from  Utah,  seeking 
freedom  from  the  enforcement  of  federal  laws. 

Fredonia  is  in  Coconino  County,  Arizona,  with  county 
seat  at  Flagstaff,  145  miles  distant  in  air  fine,  but  across  the 
Grand  Canyon.  The  easiest  method  of  communication 
with  the  county  seat  is  by  way  of  Utah  and  Nevada,  a 
distance  of  over  1000  miles. 

Fredonia  was  described  by  Miss  Sharlot  M.  Hall,  as 
"the  greenest,  cleanest,  quaintest  village  of  about  thirty 
families,  with  a  nice  schoolhouse  and  a  church  and  a  pic- 
turesque charm  not  often  found,  and  this  most  northerly 
Arizona  town  is  almost  one  of  the  prettiest.  The  fields  of 
alfalfa  and  grain  he  outside  of  the  town  along  a  level  val- 
ley and  are  dotted  over  with  haystacks,  showing  that  crops 

99 


have  been  good."  Reference  is  made  to  the  fact  that  some 
of  the  families  were  descended  from  the  settlers  of  the  Mud- 
dy Valley.  There  had  been  the  usual  trouble  in  the  building 
of  irrigating  canals  and  the  washing  away  of  headgates  by 
jfloods  that  came  down  Kanab  Creek.  Miss  Hall  continued, 
"I  am  constantly  impressed  with  the  courage  and  persis- 
tence of  the  Mormon  colony;  they  have  good,  comfortable 
houses  here  that  have  been  built  with  the  hardest  labor 
amidst  floods  and  drouth  and  all  sorts  of  discouragement. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  valleys  I  have  seen  in  Arizona 
and  has  a  fine  cUmate  the  year  round ;.  but  these  first  settlers 
deserve  a  special  place  in  history  by  the  way  they  have 
turned  the  wilderness  into  good  farms  and  homes." 

Concerning  the  highway  to  Fredonia,  Miss  Hall  ob- 
serves, ''The  Mormon  colonists  who  traveled  this  road 
certainly  had  grit  when  they  started,  and  grit  enough  more 
to  last  the  rest  of  their  lives  on  the  road." 

For  years  efforts  have  been  made  by  Utah  to  secure 
from  Arizona  the  land  lying  north  of  the  Colorado  River, 
on  the  ground  that,  topographically,  it  really  belongs  to 
the  northern  division,  and  that  its  people  are  directly  con- 
nected by  birth  and  rehgion  with  the  people  of  Utah.  As 
a  partial  offset,  they  have  offered  that  part  of  Utah  that 
lies  south  of  the  San  Juan  River,  thus  to  be  created  a 
northern  Arizona  boundary  wholly  along  water  courses. 
The  suggestion,  repeatedly  put  before  Arizona  Legislatures, 
invariably  has  met  with  hostile  reception,  especially  based 
upon  the  desire  to  keep  the  whole  of  the  Grand  Canyon 
within  Arizona.  Indeed,  in  later  years,  the  great  200-mile 
gorge  of  the  Colorado  more  generally  is  referred  to  as  the 
Grand  Canyon  of  Arizona,  this  in  order  to  avoid  confusion 
with  any  scenic  attributes  of  the  State  of  Colorado. 


100 


—     'JL 


3^.     ^ 


X 


\ 


^la^ 


MOCCASIN  SPRINGS  ON  ROAD  TO  THE  PARIA 


IN  THE  KAIBAB  FOREST  NEAR  THE  HOME  ( )F 
SHIVWITS  INDIANS 


THE 


Chapter  Ten 


History  of  the  Southern  Nevada  Point 

Assuredly  within  the  purview  of  this  work  is  the  settle- 
ment of  what  now  is  the  southern  point  of  Nevada,  a  part 
of  ihe  original  area  of  New  Mexico  and,  hence,  included 
within  the  Territory  of  Arizona  when  created  in  1863.  This 
embraced  the  district  south  of  latitude  37,  westward  to 
the  Cahfornia  Une,  west  and  north  of  the  Colorado  River. 
The  main  stream  of  the  district  is  the  Virgin,  with  a  drain- 
age area  of  11,000  square  miles.  Muddy  River  and  Santa 
Clara  Creek  being  its  main  tributaries.  It  is  a  toirential 
stream,  subject  to  sudden  floods  and  carrying  much  silt. 
A  section  of  its  valley  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
present  Arizona,  near  Littlefield,  is  to  be  dammed  in  the 
near  future  for  the  benefit  of  small  farms  that  have  been 
cultivated  for  many  years  and  for  carrying  out  irrigation 
plans  of  much  larger  scope. 

Especial  interest  attaches  to  this  district  through  the 
fuct  that  its  area  once  was  embraced  within  the  now  almost 
forgotten  Arizona  County  of  Pah-ute  or  was  part  of  the 
present  Arizona  county  of  Mohave. 

In  the  Bancroft  Library  at  Berkeley,  much  information 
concerning  the  Nevada  point  was  found  in  a  series  of  pio- 
neer maps.  Of  very  early  designation  were  old  Las  Vegas 
Springs  and  Beaver  Dams,  the  latter  now  known  as 
Littlefield.  South  of  the  37th  parallel,  on  a  map  of  1873,  are 
found  Cane  Springs,  Grapevine  Springs  and  West  Point, 
with  Las  Vegas  (Sp.,  The  Meadows)  and  Cottonwood  as 
stations  on  the  Mormon  road,  which  divided  to  the  west- 
ward at  the  last-named  point. 

101 


The  main  road  to  Callville  appears  to  have  been  down 
the  Virgin  for  a  short  distance  from  St.  Thomas,  and  then 
to  have  led  over  the  hills  to  the  westward.  From  Callville, 
a  road  connected  with  the  main  highway  at  Las  Vegas. 

A  map  of  California,  made  by  W.  M.  Eddy  in  1853,  has 
some  interesting  variations  of  the  northwestern  New  Mexico 
nomenclature.  The  Muddy  is  set  down  as  El  Rio  Atascoso 
(Sp.,  "Boggy")  and  Vegas  Wash  as  Ojo  del  Gaetan  (gal- 
leta  grass!*).  Nearby  was  Agua  Escorbada,  where  scurvy 
grass  probably  was  found.  There  also  was  Hernandez 
Spring.  There  was  an  outline  of  the  Potosi  mining  dis- 
trict. North  of  Las  Vegas  on  a  California  map  of  1864, 
was  placed  the  "Old  Mormon  Fort."  Reference  by  the 
reader  is  asked  to  the  description  of  the  Old  Spanish  Trail, 
which  was  followed  partially  by  the  line  of  the  later  Mormon 
road. 

On  a  late  map  of  the  section  that  was  lost  by  Arizona  to 
Nevada,  today  are  noted  only  the  settlements  of  Bunker- 
ville,  Moapa,  Logan,  St.  Joseph,  Mesquite,  Overton  and 
St.  Thomas.  There  is  a  ferry  at  Rioville,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Virgin,  and  another  is  at  Grand  Wash.  The  name  of 
Las  Vegas  is  borne  by  a  railroad  station  on  the  Salt  Lake 
and  Los  Angeles  line,  a  few  miles  from  the  Springs.  There 
are  the  mining  camps  of  Pahrump,  Manse,  Keystone, 
El  Dorado  and  Newberry.  The  westernmost  part  of  the 
triangle,  at  an  elevation  of  about  3000  feet,  is  occupied 
by  the  great  Amargosa  desert,  which  descends  abruptly 
on  the  California  side  into  the  sink  of  Death  Valley  to 
below  sea  level.  There  has  been  no  development  of  large 
value  in  this  strip.  Its  interest  to  Arizona  is  merely  his- 
torical. 

Today,  few  Arizonans  know  that  Pah-ute  County  once 
existed  as  an  Arizona  subdivision,  or  that  Nevada  took  a 
part  of  Arizona,  or  that  later,  Nevada  was  given  full 
sixty  miles  expansion  eastward  of  her  boundary  line,  at 
the   expense   of   both   Arizona  and   Utah.      The   natural 

102 


lip 


22. 

Itc^ 


Former 
Utah  line   ss' 


J_    Pnrs<rr)-f- 
Ufah  line   37 


103 


boundary  line  in  that  section  between  Nevada  and  Arizona 
would  have  been  the  Virgin  River. 

The  information  contained  in  this  chapter  has  been 
gathered  from  diverse  sources,  but  largely  from  the  records 
of  the  Church  Historian  at  Salt  Lake,  wherein,  practically, 
is  the  only  history  of  the  Moi^mon  settlements  of  the  south- 
western section  of  what  was  and  is  known  as  "Utah's 
Dixie." 

The  southern  Nevada  point  had  some  value  in  a 
mineral  way.  As  early  as  1857,  Mormons  worked  the 
Potosi  silver  mines,  eighteen  miles  southwest  of  Las  Vegas. 
Little  data  is  at  hand  concerning  their  value.  In  Bancroft 
is  found  this  sober  chronicle:  "Believing  the  mines  to  be 
lead,  Brigham  Young  sent  miners  to  work  them,  in  antici- 
pation of  war  with  the  United  States,  but  the  product 
was  found  too  hard  for  bullets  and  the  mines  were  aban- 
doned." 

The  Congressional  Act  of  May,  1866,  giving  Nevada 
all  that  part  of  Arizona  lying  between  the  Colorado  River 
and  California,  from  about  longitude  114,  took  from 
Arizona  31,850  square  miles.  This  followed  the  extension 
of  Nevada  eastward  for  one  degree  of  longitude.  Annexed 
was  appropriation  of  $17,000  for  surveys. 

Missionaries  of  the  Desert 

In  the  record  of  the  Whipple  expedition  of  1853-4, 
is  found  evidence  of  Mormon  influence  already  material  in 
the  Southwest.  Whipple  thought  highly  of  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  the  valley  of  the  Colorado  River,  above  the 
mouth  of  Bill  Williams'  Fork  and  wrote,  "The  Mormons 
made  a  great  mistake  in  not  occupying  the  valley  of  the 
Colorado."  This  Whipple  expedition  made  a  painful 
journey  from  the  Colorado  across  the  Mohave  desert  and, 
on  March  13,  1854,  struck  what  even  then  was  known  as 
the  Mormon  Road.  The  next  day  Whipple  met  a  party  of 
Mormons  en  route  to  Salt  Lake.  He  told  them  of  the  mur- 
der of  one  of  his  Mexican  herders  by  the  Paiutes,  but  the 

104 


/ 


travelers  expressed  no  fear.  They  said  they  were  at  peace 
with  the  Indians,  a  statement  over  which  Whipple  expressed 
surprise. 

About  the  earliest  American  occupation  of  the  southern 
Nevada  point  available  in  the  records  upon  which  this 
office  has  worked,  appears  to  have  been  the  detail  by 
Brigham  Young  in  1854  of  a  party  of  thirty  young  men 
'*to  go  to  Las  Vegas,  build  a  fort  there  to  protect  immi- 
grants and  the  United  States  mail  from  the  Indians,  and 
to  teach  the  latter  how  to  raise  corn,  wheat,  potatoes, 
squash  and  melons." 

The  missionary  partj^  arrived  at  Las  Vegas  June  14, 
1855.  Four  days  later  was  started  construction  of  an  adobe 
fort  on  the  California  road,  on  an  eminence  overlooking  the 
valley.  This  fort,  150  feet  square,  had  walls,  upon  a  stone 
foundation,  fourteen  feet  high,  with  bastions  on  the  south- 
east and  northwest  corners.  Gates  were  not  procured  until 
the  following  year.  Houses  were  built  against  the  inside 
of  the  wall  and  lots  were  drawn  to  decide  just  where  each 
of  the  brethren  should  erect  his  dwelling.  There  was  a 
garden  plot,  just  below,  on  the  creek,  and  small  farms 
were  provided  nearby.  Inside  the  fort  was  a  schoolhouse, 
in  which  meetings  also  were  held,  this  indicating  that 
families  soon  followed  the  pioneer  missionaries.  It  is  told 
that  "the  gospel  was  preached  and  that  many  Indians 
were  converted  and  baptized." 

One  of  these  missionaries  was  Benjamin  Cluff,  who  in 
later  years  became  a  prominent  member  of  the  Gila  Valley 
settlements  in  Arizona.  In  his  biography  is  found  notation 
that  the  Las  Vegas  missionaries  worked  in  lead  mines, 
assumed  to  have  been  those  in  the  Potosi  section.  Some 
of  this  lead  undoubtedly  went  back  to  Utah  but,  happily, 
was  not  used  at  the  time  of  the  1858  invasion. 

Another  notable  member  was  Wm.  C.  A.  Smoot  who 
died  in  Salt  Lake  City  in  the  spring  of  1920,  and  who  was 
one  of  the  original  Pioneers  who  reached  Salt  Lake  July 

105 


24,  1847.  Having  been  the  last  of  the  first  pioneer  company 
to  enter  the  valley,  it  was  quite  in  keeping  that  he  was  the 
last  of  the  company  to  leave  the  valley  for  the  celestial 
shores. 

Here  there  might  be  notation  that  of  the  venerated 
Salt  Lake  Pioneers,  the  following-named  later  had  resi- 
dence in  Arizona:  Edmund  Ellsworth,  Charles  Shumway, 
Edson  Whipple,  Francis  M.  Pomeroy,  Conrad  Klineman, 
Andrew  S.  Gibbons  and  Joseph  Matthews. 

Of  the  Pioneers  of  especial  distinction,  the  following- 
named  were  later  visitors  to  Arizona:  Brigham  Young, 
Wilford  Woodruff,  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Erastus  Snow,  Amasa 
M.  Lyman  and  Lorenzo  D.  Young. 

Missionaries  John  Steele  and  Wm.  A.  Follett  were 
former  Battalion  members. 

Rufus  C.  Allen,  who  was  Private  No.  1  of  the  First 
Company  of  the  Mormon  Battalion,  returned  from  Chile 
to  become  a  missionary  in  the  Las  Vegas  section  and  in  the 
Virgin  River  country.  One  of  Allen's  daughters,  Mrs. 
Rachael  Berry  of  St.  Johns,  represented  Apache  County 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Arizona's  Second  State 
Legislature,  in  1915. 

Diplomatic  Dealings  with  the  Redskins 

With  the  exception  of  the  missionaries  and  the  travelers 
between  Utah  and  San  Bernardino,  the  white  man  had 
Httle  place  in  the  southern  point  of  Nevada  in  the  early 
days.  At  hand,  however,  is  a  tale  of  the  adventures  of  Ira 
Hatch,  who  was  sent  into  the  lonely,  barren  desert  in  the 
hope  that  something  of  missionary  value  might  be  done 
with  the  Indians.  These  Indians,  Paiutes,  were  described 
as  "always  ready  to  attack  the  weak  and  defenseless 
traveler,  including  any  opportunity  to  prey  upon  the  ani- 
mals of  the  watchful  and  strong."  Nevertheless  mission- 
aries from  southern  Utah  attempted  Christianization. 
Whatever  their  degree  of  success,  and  though  often  in 
serious  danger,  they  made  the  redskins  understand  that, 

106 


personally,  they  were  friendly.  This  missionary  effort,  it 
was  hoped,  would  serve  to  make  safer  the  through  road. 

Elder  Hatch,  in  January,  1858,  was  sent  alone  into  the 
Muddy  Valley,  100  miles  from  the  nearest  settlement, 
Santa  Clara.  He  was  among  the  savages  for  two  weeks, 
camped  in  a  broken-down  wagon  left  by  one  of  the  Cris- 
mons.  His  main  trouble  was  in  saving  food  from  the 
Indians,  who  descended  upon  him  like  locusts  and  mani- 
fested their  friendhness  by  stealing  everything  they  could 
carry  away.  Hatch  held  the  fort,  however,  translating  and 
serving  as  guide  for  travelers,  and  occasionally  having  to 
threaten  with  his  pistol  redskins  who  menaced  him  with 
their  bows  and  arrows. 

After  a  fortnight,  Jacob  HambHn  sent  him  a  companion, 
Thales  Haskell,  another  noted  pioneer,  and  together  the 
two  spent  the  balance  of  the  winter  in  the  lonely  outpost. 
There  was  an  interesting  diversion  in  the  passage  of  Col. 
Thos.  L.  Kane,  the  statesman  who  had  done  so  much  for 
the  Mormon  people  at  the  time  of  exodus  from  Nauvoo  and 
who  later  served  so  effectively  as  a  mediator  between  De- 
seret  and  the  national  government.  Kane,  with  a  party, 
was  on  his  way  from  California  to  Salt  Lake.  He  had  an 
idea  of  creating  a  haven  of  refuge  for  beleagured  travelers 
in  a  cave  about  sixty  miles  northeast  of  Overton.  In  this 
cave  he  had  placed  bottles  of  medicine,  which  he  wished 
the  Indians  to  understand  was  good  only  for  white  men. 
This  refuge  he  called  the  "Travelers'  Home."  It  had  been 
known  as  "Dr.  Osborn's  Cave." 

A  number  of  the  Indians  were  gathered  and  a  treaty  was 
concluded.  At  this  meeting  there  developed  the  unusual 
condition  that  Hatch  had  spent  so  much  time  with  the 
Indians  that  his  EngHsh  was  very  imperfect  and  broken, 
while  Colonel  Kane's  language  was  of  cultured  sort,  un- 
familiar and  almost  unintelligible  to  Hatch.  So  a  third 
person  (Amasa  M.  Lyman)  had  to  interpret  between  Kane 
and  Hatch  and  the  latter  then  interpreted  to  the  Indians, 

107 


the  return  message  going  the  same  route  back  to  the 
Colonel.  Inasmuch  as  the  treaty  had  been  upon  the  basis 
of  certain  trade  articles  that  were  to  have  been  furnished 
by  the  Utah  Indian  agent,  and  were  not  furnished,  the 
contract  was  not  completed.  Ammon  M.  Tenney,  a  mere 
lad,  spent  several  months  in  Las  Vegas  at  that  time.  Hatch 
and  Haskell  returned  to  their  homes  in  Utah  in  March, 
1858. 

Near  Approaches  to  Indian  Warfare 

Continual  trouble  was  known  with  the  Indians,  though, 
after  a  few  years,  was  written,  "many  of  the  Indians  are 
being  taught  to  labor  and  are  learning  better  things  than 
to  rob  and  murder." 

When  the  first  agricultural  settlers  came,  they  were 
visited  by  To-ish-obe,  principal  chief  of  the  Muddy  In- 
dians, and  a  party  of  other  redskins,  who  transmitted  in- 
formation that  had  been  sent  them  to  the  effect  that 
President  Erastus  Snow  had  planned  to  poison  the  Muddy 
and  kill  off  all  the  Indians.  The  chief  was  disabused  of 
the  idea. 

The  same  chief  appears  to  have  been  decent  enough. 
In  February,  1866,  there  is  record  how  he  had  declared  out- 
laws two  Indians  who  had  stolen  horses  and  cattle.  One 
of  these  Indians,  Co-quap,  was  taken  prisoner  and  was 
killed  at  St.  Thomas.  About  the  same  time,  Indians  on  the 
Muddy,  above  Simonsville  (a  grist  mill  site),  stole  wheat 
from  about  thirty  acres  and  left  for  the  mountains,  threaten- 
ing the  Muddy  settlers.  Within  a  month,  32  head  of  horses, 
mules  and  cattle  were  driven  off  by  Indians,  from  St. 
Joseph  and  Simonsville.  An  expedition  of  25  men  started 
after  the  marauders,  but  failed  to  recapture  the  stock. 

Andrew  S.  Gibbons  (who  had  come  in  1864),  sought 
To-ish-obe  on  the  upper  Muddy,  to  interpret  and  make 
peace,  if  possible.  In  June  at  St.  Joseph  was  a  conference 
between  Erastus  Snow  and  a  group  of  the  leading  Indians, 
representing  the  Santa  Clara,  Muddy,  Colorado  and  other 

108 


A  STREET  IX  FREDOXIA 


. ' ' 'Hit 

^m  - 

WALPI— OXE  OF  THE  HOPI  (MOQUI)  VILLAGES 


WARREN  M.  JOHNSON'S  HOUSE  AT  PARIA  FERRY 


CROSSING  THE  COLORADO  AT  THE  PARIA  FERRY 


bands,  in  all  seven  chiefs  and  64  of  their  men.  The  con- 
ference was  an  agreeable  one  and  it  was  felt  that  some  good 
had  been  done. 

There  was  more  trouble  with  the  Indians  in  February, 
1868,  when  the  tribesmen  on  the  upper  Muddy,  where  a  new 
settlement  had  been  formed,  came  to  the  camp  in  anger, 
with  blackened  faces,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  to 
demand  pay  for  grain  lands  that  had  been  occupied  by 
the  whites.  Gibbons  acted  as  peacemaker,  but  told,  "the 
fact  that  the  brethren  were  all  well  armed  appeared  to 
pacify  the  Indians  more  than  any  arguments."  The 
farmers  formed  in  battle  line,  with  Helaman  Pratt  as 
captain,  Gibbons  in  front,  interpreting. 

The  Indians  of  the  region,  mainly  Paiutes,  were  a 
never-ending  source  of  irritation  and  of  potential  danger  to 
the  settlers.  They  had  grown  fields  of  a  few  acres  along  the 
Muddy  and  hence  resented  the  coming  of  the  settlers  who 
might  include  the  aboriginal  farms  within  their  holdings. 
In  accordance  with  the  traditional  policy  of  the  Church, 
however,  concihation  was  used  wherever  possible,  though 
the  settlers  sometimes,  when  goaded  to  the  last  extremity, 
had  to  exhibit  firearms  and  make  a  show  of  force. 

In  1868,  Joseph  W.  Young  wrote,  ''These  Indians  were 
considered  about  the  worst  specimens  of  the  race.  They 
lived  almost  in  a  state  of  nudity  and  were  among  the  worst 
thieves  on  the  continent.  But  through  the  kind,  though 
determined,  course  pursued  towards  them  by  our  brethren 
who  have  been  among  them,  they  are  greatly  changed  for 
the  better,  and  I  believe  I  may  safely  say  that  they  are  the 
best  workers  of  all  the  tribes.  They  are,  nevertheless, 
Indians,  and  much  wisdom  is  required  to  get  along  with 
them  pleasantly.  Brother  Andrew  Gibbons  is  worthy  of 
honorable  mention,  because  of  the  good  influence  that  he 
maintains  over  these  rude  men." 

In  November,  1870,  the  Indians  were  reported  "very 
hostile  and  saucy."    The  Chemehuevis  and  Mohaves  were 

109 


at  war.  A  band  of  the  former,  about  100  or  more,  came  into 
the  Muddy  Valley.  In  December  a  band  of  Wallapai  came 
for  a  friendly  visit. 

Utilization  of  the  Colorado  River 

The  Colorado  River  drains  nearly  all  the  lands  of 
present  Mormon  settlement,  mainly  lying  betwixt  the 
Rockies  and  the  Sierras.  The  Colorado,  within  the  United 
States  is  reckoned  as  only  inferior  to  the  Mississippi-Mis- 
souri and  Columbia,  with  an  annual  flow  sufficient  to  supply 
for  irrigation  needs  about  20,000,000  acre  feet  of  water. 
It  has  a  drainage  area  of  244,000  square  miles  and  a  length 
of  1700  miles.  It  is  of  torrential  character,  very  big  indeed 
in  the  late  spring  and  early  summer  and  very  low  most  of 
the  remainder  of  the  year.  In  years,  not  far  distant,  there 
will  be  storage  dams  at  many  points,  to  hold  back  the 
springtime  floods  from  the  melting  of  the  snows  of  the 
Rockies,  and  from  the  river's  flow  will  be  generated  electric 
power  for  the  turning  of  the  wheels  of  the  Southwest.  All 
this  is  in  plans  made  by  the  League  of  the  Southwest,  a 
body  now  headed  by  Governor  Campbell  of  Arizona.  But 
these  things  are  of  the  future,  and  it  is  the  past  we  especial- 
ly are  considering. 

Several  attempts  were  made  during  and  prior  to  the 
Civil  War  to  make  of  the  Colorado  a  highway  through 
which  Utah,  southern  Nevada  and  northern  Arizona  might 
have  better  transportation.  The  scheme  was  not  a  wild 
one  by  any  means,  though  handicapped  by  the  difficulties 
of  both  the  maximum  and  minimum  flows. 

Inspector  General  J.  F.  Rusling  had  recommended  that 
military  suppHes  for  the  forces  in  Utah  be  brought  in  by 
way  of  the  Colorado  River. 

Fort  Yuma  was  visited  late  in  1854  by  Lieut.  N.  Michler, 
of  the  Topographical  Engineers,  who  wrote: 

The  belief  is  entertained  and  strongly  advocated  that  the  Colo- 
rado will  be  the  means  of  supplying  the  Mormon  territory,  instead 
of  the  great  extent  of  land  transportation  now  used  for  that  purpose. 

110 


Its  headwaters  approach  the  large  settlements  of  Utah  and  may  one 
day  become  the  means  of  bearing  away  the  products  of  those  pioneers 
of  the  far  West.  With  this  idea  prominent  in  the  minds  of  specula- 
tors, a  city  on  paper,  bearing  the  name  of  "Colorado  City,"  had  already 
been  surv^eyed,  the  streets  and  blocks  marked  out  and  many  of  them 
sold.     It  is  situated  on  the  east  bank,  opposite  Fort  Yuma. 

From  1858  to  about  1882,  even  after  the  Santa  Fe 
railroad  had  reached  Needles,  there  was  much  traffic  on 
the  Colorado.  Supplies  went  by  river  to  the  mines,  which 
sent  downstream  occasional  shipments  of  ore.  Military 
supplies  went  by  water  to  Fort  Mohave  or  to  Ehrenberg, 
the  latter  point  a  depot  for  Whipple  Barracks  and  other 
posts.  Salt  came  down  stream  from  the  Virgin  River  mines, 
for  use  mainly  in  the  amalgamation  processes  of  the  small 
stamp  mills  of  the  period. 

Steamboats  on  the  Shallow  Stream 

Traffic  on  the  river  had  been  established  as  early  as 
December,  1852.  Capt.  Geo.  A.  Johnston,  an  early  steam- 
boat pilot,  ferried  the  Beale  partj^  in  January,  1858, 
near  where  Fort  Mohave  later  was  established.  Johnston 
made  several  trips  far  up  the  river  with  the  Jesup  and  with 
a  newer  steamer,  the  Colorado.  He  is  understood  to  have 
gone  even  farther  than  Lieut.  J.  C.  Ives,  of  the  Topo- 
graphical Corps,  in  the  little  steamer  Explorer.  This  stern- 
wheeler  made  the  trip  in  January,  1858,  and  was  passed 
by  Johnston  on  his  way  downstream.  The  river  was  at 
low  stage  and  the  Explorer  butted  into  snags  and  muddy 
banks  continually.  Finally  there  was  disaster  when  Black 
Canyon  was  reached,  when  the  boat  ran  upon  a  sunken 
rock.     Ives  rowed  as  far  up  as  Vegas  Wash. 

In  1866,  the  Arizona  Legislature,  at  Prescott,  by  resolu- 
tion thanked  ''Admiral"  Robert  Rogers,  commander  of  the 
steamer  Esmeralda,  and  Capt.  William  Gilmore,  for  the 
successful  accomplishment  of  the  navigation  of  the  Colorado 
River  to  Callville,  "effected  by  the  indomitable  energy  of 
the  enterprising  Pacific  and  Colorado  Navigation  Co.," 
a  concern  managed  by  Thos.  E.  Trueworthy,  an  experienced 

111 


steamboat  man  from  the  Sacramento  River  of  California. 
Both  Arizona  and  Nevada  Legislatures  petitioned  Congress 
to  improve  the  stream. 

Captain  Johnston  later  formed  the  Colorado  Steam 
Navigation  Company  and,  more  or  less,  controlled  the 
river  traffic  for  years.  There  were  other  noted  Captains, 
including  C.  V.  Meeden,  Isaac  Polhamus,  A.  D.  Johnson, 
William  Poole,  S.  Thorn,  J.  H.  Godfrey  and  J.  A.  Mellen. 

Captain  Mellen  told  that  sometimes  schooner  barges 
were  used  in  the  lower  canyons,  where  the  wind  was  either 
upstream  or  downstream.  When  it  was  downstream,  the 
upward-bound  craft  moored  until  the  breeze  changed  to 
astern. 

The  deck  hands  were  Cocopah  or  Yuma  Indians,  am- 
phibious, always  ready  to  plunge  overboard  to  help  in 
lightening  their  craft  over  any  of  the  numerous  sand  bars. 
Mellen  told  of  lying  52  days  in  one  bar  and  of  often  being 
held  up  for  a  week.  There  was  no  possible  mapping  of  the 
river  channel,  for  the  bars  changed  from  week  to  week. 
Even  in  the  earliest  times,  steamboats  were  never  molested 
by  the  Indians.  They  seemed  in  awe  of  the  puffing,  snort- 
ing craft  that  threw  showers  of  sparks  from  the  smoke- 
stacks. Not  infrequently,  a  steamer  had  to  tie  up  for  a 
few  days  at  a  point  where  fuel  conveniently  could  be  cut 
from  the  cottonwood  or  mesquite  thickets. 

In  June,  the  river  is  at  flood,  with  danger  always 
present  in  floating  trees  and  driftwood,  muddy  torrents 
coming  from  the  melting  snows  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
In  the  autumn  the  river  falls,  until  in  places  there  are  mere 
trickles  around  the  muddy  banks.  Navigation,  perforce, 
had  to  be  suspended.  These  were  the  conditions  under  which 
it  was  proposed  to  make  of  the  Colorado  the  great  trade 
artery  of  the  inter-mountain  region. 

The  Colorado  now  absolutely  has  lost  all  possibilities 
for  commerce.  Pioneer  conditions  are  about  the  same  as 
far  southward  as  the  Laguna  dam.   This  structure,  built  to 

112 


divert  water  for  the  Yuma  and  Imperial  valleys,  absolutely 
bars  the  river  channel  for  navigation.  Above  it  and  below 
it  now  are  only  ferries  and  a  few  power  boats.  The  great 
Imperial  canal  system,  at  a  point  below  Yuma,  for  much  of 
the  year  drains  the  river  flow.  Where  good-sized  steamers 
once  plied  from  tidewater,  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
California,  now,  for  months  at  a  time,  is  only  a  dry  sand 
wash.  To  this  extent  the  advance  of  civilization  has 
obliterated  a  river  that  ranks,  in  geography  at  least,  among 
the  greatest  streams  of  the  United  States. 

Establishing  a  River  Port 

Callville,  established  on  the  Colorado  by  Anson  Call  in 
December,  1864,  for  a  while  was  the  southernmost  outpost 
of  Mormon  settlement.  Call  himself  was  a  pioneer  of  most 
vigoroussort.  November  24, 1851,  he  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  Fillmore,  Millard  County,  150  miles  south  of  Salt  Lake, 
a  settlement  for  a  while  the  capital  of  the  Territory  of 
Utah,  created  during  the  administration  of  President 
Millard  Fillmore  in  1850.  In  the  following  year  he  built 
Call's  Fort  in  Box  Elder  County,  in  the  extreme  northern 
part  of  Utah. 

In  a  compilation  made  by  Andrew  Jenson  is  found  defi- 
nite statement  that  the  settlement  made  by  Anson  Call  on 
the  Colorado  was  "as  agent  for  the  Trustee  in  Trust  (the 
President)  of  the  Church  in  December,  1864,  according  to 
a  plan  which  was  conceived  of  at  that  time  to  bring  the 
Church  immigration  from  Europe  to  Utah  via  Panama, 
the  Gulf  of  California  and  up  the  river  to  this  landing." 
In  conjunction  with  this,  a  number  of  leading  merchants 
of  Salt  Lake  City  combined  to  build  a  warehouse  on  the 
Colorado,  with  a  view  to  bringing  goods  in  by  the  river 
route.  This  company  also  constituted  Anson  Call  its  agent. 
November  1,  Call  was  directed  to  take  a  suitable  company, 
locate  a  road  to  the  Colorado,  explore  the  river,  find  a 
suitable  place  for  a  warehouse,  build  it  and  form  a  settle- 
ment at  or  near  the  landing.     All  these  things  he  accom- 

113 


plished.  At  St.  George  he  employed  Jacob  Hamblin  and 
son,  Angus  M.  Cannon  and  Dr.  Jas.  M.  Whitmore. 

The  journal  of  travel  tells  of  leaving  the  mouth  of  the 
Muddy,  continuing  down  the  Virgin  twelve  miles,  thence 
up  what  was  named  Echo  Wash,  twelve  miles,  and  thence 
twenty  miles,  generally  southwestward,  to  the  Colorado,  a 
mile  below  the  narrows,  above  the  mouth  of  Black  Canyon, 
where,  on  December  2,  was  found  a  black  rocky  point, 
considered  a  suitable  spot  for  the  erection  of  a  ware- 
house, above  high-water  mark.  This  later  was  named 
Callville. 

With  the  exception  of  a  small  bottom  around  the  ware- 
house site,  the  country  was  considered  most  barren  and 
uninviting.  Two  and  a  half  miles  down  the  river  was  the 
mouth  of  Las  Vegas  Wash,  up  which  Call  and  party  traveled 
to  old  Fort  Vegas,  where  a  half-dozen  men  were  found 
established.  In  the  company's  journeyings.  El  Dorado 
Canyon  was  found  occupied  by  miners  and  there  were 
some  adventurers  on  Cottonwood  Island,  a  tract  of  bottom 
land  nearby.  The  expedition  was  ferried  across  the  Colo- 
rado to  Hardy's  Landing,  337  miles  above  Yuma.  Hardy 
had  a  rather  extensive  establishment,  with  a  store,  ware- 
house, hotel,  blacksmith  shop,  carpenter  shop  and  several 
dwelling  houses.  Possibly  notable  was  the  launching  at 
that  time  of  the  barge  "Arizona,"  fifty  feet  long  and  ten 
feet  wide,  sharp  at  both  ends  and  flat-bottomed. 

By  river  there  was  a  visit  to  Fort  Mohave.  This, 
garrisoned  by  forty  soldiers  of  the  California  Column,  was 
of  log  and  willow  houses,  the  latter  wattled  and  daubed 
with  mud.  There  was  reference  by  Call  to  the  Colorado 
River  mesquito,  described  as  "very  large." 

Returning  to  Call's  Landing,  there  were  measured  off 
forty  lots,  each  100  feet  square,  and  a  start  was  made  by 
leaving  Thomas  Davids  and  Lyman  Hamblin,  on  Decem- 
ber 18,  to  dig  the  foundation  of  the  warehouse. 

This  expedition  made  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  Mud- 

114 


dy  and  declared  settlement  upon  the  stream  entirely 
feasible. 

Wm.  H.  Hardy  of  Hardyville,  or  Hardy's  Landing,  was 
not  at  home  when  Anson  Call  visited  in  December,  but  re- 
turned soon  thereafter  and,  January  2,  1865,  started  north- 
ward with  his  new  barge,  propelled  by  poles  and  oars  and 
a  sail.  A  distance  of  150  miles  by  river  was  made  in  twelve 
days.  Though  later  some  jealousy  was  expressed  over  the 
activities  at  Callville,  Hardy  profifered  all  possible  assis- 
tance and  expressed  belief  that  from  July  to  November 
steamers  could  ply  from  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  to 
Call's  Landing.  The  warehouse  was  built,  but  appears  to 
have  been  Httle  used.  Capt.  Geo.  A.  Johnston  had  sub- 
mitted the  Church  authorities  formal  proposals  to  ship 
direct  from  New  York  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  in  barques 
of  about  600  tons  burden,  preferably  arriving  at  the  river 
mouth  in  the  fall.  The  cost  of  freight  from  New  York  to 
the  river  mouth  was  set  at  S16  a  ton,  and  the  cost  to  El 
Dorado  Canyon  at  S65,  but,  figuring  currency  at  50  cents, 
the  freight  was  estimated  to  cost  $7.16  per  100  pounds  in 
currency. 

In  March,  1865,  Capt.  Thos.  E.  Trueworthy,  told  of 
opposition  at  Hardy's  Landing  to  the  establishment  of 
Callville.  He  had  started  for  Call's  Landing  with  100  tons 
of  freight,  including  35,000  feet  of  lumber,  to  find  that  Call 
had  returned  to  Utah.  Trueworthy  left  his  boat  and  cargo 
below  Callville  and  went  on  to  Salt  Lake.  He  stated  the 
trip  from  the  mouth  to  Call's  Landing  would  take  a  boat  a 
month,  there  being  difficulty  in  passing  rapids  and  in 
finding  wood  for  fuel. 

Historian  B.  H.  Roberts  states: 

There  was  shipment  of  some  goods  from  that  point,  though  at 
first  there  were  some  disappointments  and  dissatisfaction  among  the 
Salt  Lake  merchants  who  patronized  the  route.  Two  steamboats, 
the  Esmeralda  and  Nina  Tilden  made  the  trip  somewhat  regularly 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  to  Call's  Landing,  connecting  with 
steamships  plying  between  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  and  San  Fran- 

115 


cisco.  The  owners  of  the  river  boats  carried  a  standing  advertise- 
ment in  the  Salt  Lake  Telegraph,  thus  seeking  trade,  up  to  December 
1,  1866.  Doubtless  the  certainty  of  the  early  completion  of  the 
transcontinental  railroad  from  the  Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
stopped  the  development  of  this  southwest  route  for  immigration 
and  freight,  via  Utah's  southern  settlements  and  the  Colorado  River. 

The  port  of  Callville  had  only  a  short  life.  In  June, 
1869,  the  Deseret  News  printed  an  article  that  Callville 
then  had  been  abandoned.  This  was  in  connection  with  the 
escape  of  three  horsethieves  from  St.  George.  These  men 
wrenched  four  large  doors  from  the  Callville  warehouse 
for  the  construction  of  a  raft,  upon  which  they  committed 
themselves  to  the  river  at  flood  time,  leaving  horses  and 
impedimenta  behind.  Whether  they  escaped  has  not  been 
chronicled. 

As  late  as  1892,  the  walls  of  the  old  storehouse  still  were 
standing,  the  only  remaining  evidences  of  a  scheme  of  broad 
ambition  designed  to  furnish  a  new  supply  route  for  a 
region  comprising  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  national 
expanse. 


116 


Chapter  Eleven 


First  Agriculture  in  Nortliern  Arizona 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  first  agricultural  settle- 
ment in  northern  Arizona  was  by  a  Mormon  party,  led 
by  Henry  W.  Miller,  which  made  location  at  Beaver  Dams, 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Virgin  River  on  the  earlier  Mormon 
road  to  California.  On  a  tract  of  land  lying  six  miles  below 
the  point  where  the  river  emerges  from  a  box  canyon,  land 
was  cleared  in  the  fall  of  1864,  crops  were  put  in  "and  then 
the  enterprise  was  dedicated  to  the  Lord,"  according  to 
a  report  by  the  leader  at  Salt  Lake.  An  item  in  the  Deseret 
News  tells  that  Miller  was  "called"  in  the  fall  of  1863  to 
go  to  the  Virgin. 

Early  in  1865,  another  report  told,  ''affairs  in  the  set- 
tlement are  progressing  very  satisfactorily.  A  large  number 
of  fruit  trees  and  grapevines  have  been  set  out.  Corn, 
wheat  and  other  vegetation  are  growing  thriftily  and  the 
settlers  are  very  industriously  prosecuting  their  several 
useful  vocations,  with  good  prospects  of  success." 

There  was  notation  of  some  trouble  because  beavers 
were  numerous  and  persisted  in  damming  irrigation  ditches. 
In  1867  a  river  flood  destroyed  much  of  the  results  of  the 
colonists'  labors  and  there  was  abandonment  of  the  loca- 
tion. Between  1875  and  1878  settlers  began  to  come  again 
and  a  thriving  community  now  is  in  existence  at  that  point, 
known  as  Littlefield.  It  is  to  benefit  in  large  degree  by 
plans  approved  by  the  Arizona  Water  Commissioner,  for 
damming  of  the  canyon  for  storage  of  water  to  irrigate  land 
of  the  Virgin  Valley  toward  the  southwest.     Littlefield  is 

117 


the  extreme  northwestern  settlement  of  the  present  Ari- 
zona, five  miles  south  of  the  Utah  line  and  three  miles  east 
of  the  Nevada  Hne. 

In  the  same  fall  conference  of  1864  that  sent  Anson 
Call  on  his  pioneering  expedition,  there  was  designation 
of  a  large  number  (183,  according  to  Christopher  Layton) 
of  missionaries,  to  proceed,  with  their  families,  to  the 
Muddy  and  lower  Virgin,  thereon  to  estabhsh  colonies  that 
might  serve  as  stations  in  the  great  movement  toward  the 
Pacific.  Undoubtedly,  full  information  was  at  hand  con- 
cerning the  country  and  its  possibilities,  for  the  colonists 
began  to  arrive  January  8,  1865,  before  there  could  have 
been  formulation  of  Call's  report.  Thos.  S.  Smith  was  in 
charge  of  the  migration,  and  after  him  was  named  St. 
Thomas,  one  of  the  settlements.  May  28,  Andrew  S.  Gib- 
bons settled  at  St.  Thomas,  sent  as  Indian  interpreter. 
Joseph  Warren  Foote  led  in  a  new  settlement  at  St.  Joseph. 

Villages  of  Pioneer  Days 

In  what  was  known  as  the  Muddy  section,  comprising 
the  valleys  of  the  lower  Virgin  River  and  its  main  lower 
tributary,  the  Muddy,  were  seven  settlements  of  Mormon 
origin,  during  the  time  when  the  locality  was  included  in 
the  area  of  Arizona.  These  settlements  were  Beaver  Dams 
on  the  Virgin,  St.  Thomas,  on  the  Muddy,  about  two  and 
a  half  miles  from  its  junction  with  the  Virgin,  Overton,  on 
the  same  side  of  the  Muddy  Valley,  about  eight  miles  north- 
west of  St.  Thomas,  St.  Joseph,  which  lay  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  stream,  five  miles  to  the  northward.  West  Point 
(now  Logan),  on  the  west  bank,  possibly  fifteen  miles  west 
of  St.  Joseph,  and  Mill  Point  and  Simonsville  between  St. 
Joseph  and  Overton.  To  these  was  addition  of  the  port  of 
Callville.  Nearly  westward  from  the  last-named  point  was 
Las  Vegas  Springs,  distant  about  twenty  miles,  a  camping 
point  on  the  road  between  San  Bernardino  and  Salt  Lake, 
and  permanent  residence  of  missionaries.  In  later  days 
were  established  Junction  City,  otherwise  Rioville,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Virgin,  Bunkerville  on  the  east  bank  of  the 

118 


Virgin,  three  miles  west  of  the  later  Arizona  hne,  and 
Mesquite,  which  lay  east  across  the  river. 

The  valley  of  the  Virgin  offered  very  Hmited  oppor- 
tunities for  settlement,  as  the  stream,  an  alkahne  one, 
usually  ran  between  deep  cHffs.  The  Muddy,  however, 
despite  its  name,  was  a  clear  stream  of  sUght  fall,  with  a 
lower  valley  two  miles  wide,  continuing,  upstream,  north- 
westerly for  eighteen  miles.  A  number  of  swamps  had  to 
be  drained  by  the  first  residents.  These  people  constructed 
a  canal,  nine  miles  long,  on  the  southwest  side  and  were 
preparing  to  dig  a  similar  canal  on  the  opposite  side  when 
there  was  abandonment. 

St.  Thomas  has  been  described  as  a  beautiful  village, 
its  streets  outhned  by  rows  of  tall  cottonwoods  that  still 
survive.  There  were  85  city  lots  of  one  acre  each,  about  the 
same  number  of  vineyard  lots,  two  and  a  half  acres  each, 
and  of  farm  lots  of  five  acres. 

St.  Joseph  mainly  comprised  a  fort  on  a  high  bluff,  from 
which  the  town  had  been  laid  out  on  a  level  bench  west  and 
northward.  It  included  a  flour  mill,  owned  by  James  Leit- 
head.  In  August,  1868,  the  fort  was  almost  destroyed  by 
fire,  which  burned  up  nineteen  rooms  and  most  of  their 
contents,  the  meetinghouse  and  a  cotton  gin  also  being 
included  in  the  destruction.  There  was  a  stiff  gale  and  most 
of  the  men  were  absent. 

Every  settlement  along  the  Virgin  and  Muddy  was 
organized  into  a  communal  system,  the  United  Order.  Of 
this  there  will  be  found  more  detail  in  Chapter  Twelve  of 
this  work. 

At  St.  Joseph,  June  10,  1869,  was  organized  a  coopera- 
tive mercantile  institution  for  the  Muddy  settlement,  with 
Joseph  W.  Young  at  its  head,  R.  J.  Cutler  as  secretary  and 
James  Leithead  as  business  agent. 

There  were  the  usual  casualties  of  the  desert  country. 
In  June,  James  Davidson,  wife  and  son  died  of  thirst  on  the 
road  from  the  Muddy  settlements  to  St.   George,  their 

119 


journey  delayed  on  the  desert  by  the  breaking  of  a  wagon 
wheel. 

On  a  visit  made  by  Erastus  Snow  and  company  in  the 
summer  of  1869,  the  Muddy  settlements  subscribed  heavily 
toward  the  purchase  of  stock  in  a  cotton  factory  at  St. 
George,  and  toward  extension  of  the  Deseret  telegraph  line. 
In  the  record  of  this  company's  journey  it  is  told  that  the 
Virgin  River  was  crossed  37  times  before  arrival  at  St. 
Thomas. 

The  condition  of  the  brethren  late  in  1870  was  set  forth 
by  James  Leithead  as  something  Uke  destitution.  He  wrote 
that,  *'many  are  nearly  naked  for  want  of  clothing.  We  can 
sell  nothing  we  have  for  money,  and  the  cotton,  what 
little  there  is,  appears  to  be  of  httle  help  in  that  direction. 
There  are  many  articles  we  are  more  in  need  of  than  the 
cloth,  such  as  boots  and  shoes  and  tools  of  various  kinds 
to  work  with." 

Brigham  Young  Makes  Inspection 

President  Brigham  Young  was  a  visitor  to  the  Muddy 
settlements  in  March  of  1870.  Ammon  M.  Tenney  states 
that  the  President  was  disappointed,  for  he  found  con- 
ditions unfavorable  for  agriculture  or  commercial  develop- 
ment. The  journey  southward  was  by  way  of  St.  George, 
Utah,  a  point  frequently  visited  by  the  Presidency.  The 
return  journey  was  northward,  by  the  desert  route.  In  the 
party  were  John  Taylor,  later  President  of  the  Church, 
Erastus  Snow,  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  Andrew 
S.  Gibbons  and  other  notables.  In  the  fall  (September  10), 
was  authorized  the  founding  of  Kanab.  From  St.  George 
the  President  followed  the  rough  road  through  Arizona  to 
the  Paria,  personally  visiting  and  selecting  the  site  of 
Kanab.  Very  opportunely,  from  D.  K.  Udall,  lately  was 
received  a  photograph  of  the  Young  party  (herewith  re- 
produced), taken  March  17  on  a  mesa  overlooking  the 
Colorado  at  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin.  Here  may  be  noted 
that  every  president  of  the  Mormon  Church,   with  the 

120 


exception    of    Joseph    Smith,  the    founder,   and    Lorenzo 
Snow  has  set  foot  on  Arizona  soil. 

Nevada  Assumes  Jurisdiction 

The  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  early  Muddy  settle- 
ments came  in  a  letter  from  the  Church  Presidency,  dated 
December  14,  1870,  addressed  to  James  Leithead,  in  charge. 
It  referred  to  the  Nevada  survey,  placing  the  settlements 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  that  State,  the  onerous  taxes, 
license  and  stamp  duties  imposed,  the  isolation  from  the 
market,  the  high  rate  at  whfich  property  is  assessed  in 
Nevada,  the  unscrupulous  character  of  many  officials,  all 
as  combining  to  render  conditions  upon  the  Muddy  matters 
of  grave  consideration,  even  though  the  country  occupied 
might  be  desirable.  The  settlers,  it  was  said,  had  done  a 
noble  work,  making  and  sustaining  their  outposts  of  Zion 
against  many  difficulties,  amid  exposure  and  toil.  It  was 
advised  that  the  settlers  petition  the  Nevada  Legislature 
for  an  abatement  of  back  taxes  and  for  a  new  county,  but, 
"if  the  majority  of  the  Saints  in  council  determine  that  it 
is  better  to  leave  the  State,  whose  burdens  and  laws  are 
so  oppressive,  let  it  be  so  done."  There  was  suggestion 
that  if  the  authorities  of  Lincoln  County,  Nevada,  chose 
to  enforce  tax  collections,  it  might  be  well  to  forestall  the 
seizure  of  property,  to  remove  it  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  State. 

The  Nevada  Point  Abandoned 

December  20,  1870,  the  people  of  the  Muddy  met  with 
John  W.  Young  of  Salt  Lake  and  resolved  to  abandon  the 
location  and  to  look  for  new  homes.  The  only  opposing 
votes  were  those  of  Daniel  Bonelli  and  wife.  BonelU  later 
was  a  ferryman  on  the  Colorado  and  his  son  now  is  a 
prominent  resident  of  Mohave  County.  Among  those  who 
voted  to  move  were  a  number  who  later  were  residents  of 
the  Little  Colorado  settlements  of  Arizona. 

In  accordance  with  the  suggestion  from  Salt  Lake,  the 

121 


Nevada  Legislature  was  petitioned  for  relief.  It  was  told 
that  seven  years  before  had  been  established  St.  Joseph  and 
St.  Thomas.  Thereafter  Congress  had  taken  one  degree  of 
longitude  from  Utah  and  Arizona  and  attached  this  land 
to  Nevada.  Taxes  had  been  paid  in  Utah  and  Arizona.  For 
two  years  the  authorities  of  Lincoln  County,  Nevada,  had 
attempted  to  assess  the  back  taxes.  To  the  Nevada  author- 
ities was  presented  statement  of  a  number  of  facts,  that 
$100,000  had  been  expended  on  water  projects,  that  the 
settlers  had  been  compelled  to  feed  the  Indian  population, 
outnumbering  their  own,  and  that  they  had  been  so  remote 
from  markets  that  produce  could  not  be  converted  into 
cash.  It  was  asked  that  a  new  county,  that  of  Las  Vegas, 
be  organized,  taking  in  the  southern  point  of  Nevada. 
Attached  to  the  petition  were  111  names  of  citizens  of  St. 
Joseph,  Overton  and  St.  Thomas. 

A  similar  petition  was  sent  to  Congress.  There  was 
detail  how  lumber  had  to  be  hauled  150  miles  at  a  cost 
of  $200  per  1000  feet.  There  had  been  constructed  150 
dwellings.  Orchards  and  vineyards  had  been  planted  and 
500  acres  of  cotton  fields  had  been  cleared.  In  all  3000  acres 
were  cultivated.  Nevada  had  imposed  a  tax  of  3  per  cent 
upon  all  taxable  property  and  $4  poll  tax  per  individual, 
all  payable  in  gold,  something  impossible.  It  therefore  was 
asked  that  Congress  cede  back  to  Utah  and  Arizona  both 
portions  of  country  detached  from  them  and  attached  to 
Nevada. 

At  that  time,  the  State  gave  the  Muddy- Virgin  settle- 
ment a  population  of  600.  St.  Joseph  had  193,  St.  Thomas 
about  150,  West  Point  138  and  Overton  119.  In  other 
settlements  around,  namely  Spring  Valley,  Eagle  Valley, 
Rye  Valley,  Rose  Valley,  Panaca  and  Clover,  were  658, 
possibly  two  score  of  them  not  being  of  the  Church.  Thus 
was  shown  a  gross  population  of  1250. 

Most  of  the  settlers  on  the  Muddy  left  early  in  1871, 
the  exodus  starting  February  1.  On  returning  to  Utah,  very 

122 


largely  to  Long  Valley,  they  left  behind  their  homes, 
irrigating  canals,  orchards  and  farms.  The  crops,  including 
8000  bushels  of  wheat,  were  left  to  be  harvested  by  an 
individual  who  failed  to  comply  with  his  part  of  the  con- 
tract and  who  later  tore  down  most  of  the  remaining  houses. 

Political  Organization  Within  Arizona 

Including  practically  all  the  Mormons  then  resident 
within  the  new  Territory  of  Arizona,  the  first  Arizona 
county  to  be  created  by  additional  legislative  enactment, 
following  the  Howell  Code,  was  that  of  Pah-ute,  in  De- 
cember, 1865,  by  the  first  act  approved  in  the  Second 
Arizona  Territorial  Legislative  Assembly.  The  boundaries 
of  the  county  were  described  as:  Commencing  at  a  point 
on  the  Colorado  River  known  as  Roaring  Rapids;  thence 
due  east  to  the  Hne  of  113  deg.  20  min.  west  longitude; 
thence  north  along  said  line  of  longitude,  to  its  point  of 
intersection  with  the  37th  parallel  of  north  latitude;  thence 
west,  along  said  parallel  of  latitude,  to  a  point  where  the 
boundary  line  between  the  State  of  California  and  the 
Territory  of  Arizona  strikes  said  37th  parallel  of  latitude; 
thence  southeasterly  along  said  boundary  line,  to  a  point 
due  west  from  said  Roaring  Rapids;  thence  due  east  to  said 
Roaring  Rapids  and  point  of  beginning.  Callville  was 
created  the  seat  of  justice  and  the  governor  was  authorized 
to  appoint  the  necessary  county  officers. 

The  new  subdivision  was  taken  entirely  from  Mohave 
County,  which  retained  the  southernmost  part  of  the 
Nevada  point.  It  may  be  noted  that  its  boundaries  were 
entirely  arbitrary  and  not  natural  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  new  county's  area  lay  in  what  now  is  Nevada.  October 
1,  1867,  the  county  seat  was  moved  to  St.  Thomas.  No- 
vember 5,  1866,  a  protest  was  sent  in  an  Arizona  memorial 
to  Congress  against  the  setting  off  to  the  State  of  Nevada 
of  that  part  of  the  Territory  west  of  the  Colorado.  The 
grant  of  this  tract  to  Nevada  under  the  terms  of  a  con- 
gressional act  approved  May  5,  1866,  had  been  conditioned 

123 


on  similar  acceptance  by  the  Legislature  of  Nevada.    This 
was  done  January  18,  1867. 

Without  effect,  the  Arizona  Legislature  twice  petitioned 
Congress  to  rescind  its  action,  alleging,  **it  is  the  unanimous 
wish  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pah-ute  and  Mohave  Counties 
and  indeed  of  all  the  constituents  of  your  memorialists  that 
the  territory  in  question  should  remain  with  Arizona;  for 
the  convenient  transaction  of  official  and  other  business, 
and  on  every  account  they  greatly  desire  it."  But  Congress 
proved  obdurate  and  Nevada  refused  to  give  up  the  strip 
and  the  County  of  Pah-ute,  deprived  of  most  of  her  area, 
finally  was  wiped  out  by  the  Arizona  Legislature  in  187L 
At  one  time  there  was  claim  that  St.  George  and  a  very 
wide  strip  of  southern  Utah  really  belonged  to  Arizona. 

Pah-ute's  Political  Vicissitudes 

In  the  Second  Legislature,  at  Prescott,  in  1865,  at  the 
time  of  the  creation  of  Pah-ute  County,  northwest  Arizona, 
or  Mohave  County,  was  represented  in  the  Council  by  W. 
H.  Hardy  of  Hardyville  and  in  the  House  by  Octavius  D. 
Gass  of  Callville.  In  the  Third  Legislature,  which  met  at 
Prescott,  October  3,  1866,  Pah-ute  was  represented  in  the 
Council  by  Gass,  who  was  honored  by  election  as  presi- 
dent of  the  body,  in  which  he  also  served  as  translator  and 
interpreter.  He  was  described  as  a  very  able  man,  though 
rough  of  speech.  He  explored  many  miles  of  the  lower 
Grand  Canyon.  He  was  not  a  Mormon,  but  evidently  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  his  constituents,  who  elected  him  to 
office  in  Arizona  as  long  as  they  had  part  in  its  politics. 
Royal  J.  Cutler  of  Mill  Point  represented  the  county  in 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

In  the  Fourth  Legislature,  which  met  at  Prescott, 
September  4,  1867,  Gass,  who  had  moved  to  Las  Vegas, 
was  returned  to  the  Council  where  again  he  was  chosen 
president,  and  Cutler,  who  had  moved  to  St.  Joseph,  again 
was  in  the  House.  On  the  record  of  the  Legislature's  pro- 
ceedings, Gass  is  styled  "ranchero"  and  Cutler  "farmer." 

124 


Though  most  of  the  area  of  Pah-ute  County  already 
had  been  wiped  out  by  congressional  enactment  and  given 
to  Nevada,  Gass  again  was  in  the  Legislature  in  1868,  in 
the  fifth  session,  which  met  in  Tucson,  December  10. 
The  House  member  was  Andrew  S.  Gibbons  of  St.  Thomas, 
a  senior  member  of  a  family  that  since  has  had  much  to 
do  with  the  development  of  northeastern  Arizona.  A  very 
interesting  feature  in  connection  with  this  final  service  in 
the  Legislature,  was  the  fact  that  Gass  and  Gibbons 
floated  down  the  Colorado  River  to  Yuma  and  thence 
took  conveyance  to  Tucson.  They  were  in  a  fourteen-foot 
boat  that  had  been  built  at  St.  Thomas  by  James  Leithead. 
Gibbons'  son,  William  H.  (now  resident  at  St.  Johns), 
hauled  the  craft  to  Callville,  twenty  miles,  and  there  sped 
the  legislators. 

At  the  outset,  there  was  necessity  for  the  voyageurs  to 
pass  through  the  rapids  of  Black  Canyon,  an  exciting 
experience,  not  unmixed  with  danger.  Gibbons  knew  some- 
thing of  boating  and  so  was  at  the  oars.  Gass,  seated  astern, 
firmly  grabbed  the  gunwales,  shut  his  eyes  and  trusted 
himself  in  the  rapids  to  providence  and  his  stout  companion, 
with  at  least  one  fervent  admonition,  "For  God's  sake, 
Andy,  keep  her  pointed  down  stream."  The  passage  was 
made  in  safety,  though  both  men  were  soaked  by  the  dash- 
ing spray. 

The  start  was  made  November  1.  By  day  all  possible 
progress  was  made,  the  boat  being  kept  in  midstream  and 
away  from  bushes,  for  fear  of  ambush  by  Indians.  At  night 
a  place  for  camp  would  be  selected  in  a  secluded  spot  and 
a  fire  would  be  lighted  only  when  safety  seemed  assured. 

There  was  some  delay  in  securing  transportation  east- 
ward from  Fort  Yuma.  Indians  had  been  active  along  the 
stage  route  and  had  just  waylaid  a  coach  and  killed  its 
driver.  Thus  it  came  that  the  members  from  Pah-ute  were 
six  days  late  in  their  taking  seats  in  the  territorial  assembly. 

At  the  close  of  the  legislative  session.  Gibbons  journeyed 

125 


home  on  horseback,  for  much  of  the  way  through  districts 
infested  by  wild  Indians  of  several  tribes,  a  trip  of  at  least 
500  miles.  Gass  went  to  California  before  returning  home. 
Such  a  return  journey  is  not  mentioned,  however,  in  an 
interesting  record,  furnished  the  Author  by  A.  V.,  Richard 
and  Wm.  H.  Gibbons,  sons  of  the  pioneer. 

Royal  J.  Cutler,  on  April  3,  1869,  came  again  into 
official  notice  as  clerk  of  the  Probate  and  County  Court  of 
Rio  Virgen  County,  which  had  been  created  out  of  the  west- 
ern part  of  Washington  County,  Utah,  by  the  Utah 
Legislature.  The  first  session  of  the  court  was  at  St.  Joseph, 
with  Joseph  W.  Young  as  magistrate.  This  county  organi- 
zation is  not  understood,  even  under  the  hypothesis  that 
Utah  claimed  a  sixty-mile  strip  of  Nevada,  for  St.  Joseph, 
on  the  Muddy,  lies  a  considerable  distance  south  of  the 
extension  of  the  southern  Utah  line,  the  37th  parallel. 

A  tax  was  levied  of  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  this  later 
increased  to  three-quarters  of  1  per  cent.  Direct  taxes  in 
1869  had  been  received  of  $156.19,  and  the  amount  trans- 
ferred from  Pah-ute  County  was  $24.10,  a  total  of  $180.29, 
which  hardly  could  be  considered  an  onerous  levy  or  fat 
treasury  for  the  support  of  a  political  subdivision.  The 
treasurer  had  on  hand  $28.55  in  cash,  $20  in  flour  and  $12.45 
in  wheat. 

Later  Settlement  in  *'The  Point" 

Bunkerville,  settled  January  6,  1877,  was  named  for 
Edward  Bunker,  a  member  of  the  Mormon  Battalion. 
Latterly  to  a  degree  it  has  become  connected  with  Arizona 
through  the  fact  that  lands  in  its  vicinity  are  to  be  irrigated 
from  a  reservoir  to  be  established  upon  the  Virgin  within 
Arizona.  January  24,  1877,  there  were  visitors  of  notable 
sort,  Capt.  Daniel  W.  Jones  and  company,  on  their  way 
to  a  location  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  of  Arizona.  Bunker- 
ville had  elaborate  organization  under  the  United  Order, 
and  it  is  agreed  that  the  large  amount  of  irrigation  work 
accomplished  hardly  could  have  been  done  under  any  other 

126 


plan.  The  organization  lasted  until  the  summer  of  1879, 
it  being  found  that  some  of  the  members,  "through  their 
economy  and  industry  were  gathering  and,  laying  up  in 
abundance,  while  others,  through  carelessness  and  bad 
management,  were  wasting  the  funds  of  the  company,  each 
year  being  increasing  in  debt."  This  was  very  unsatis- 
factory to  those  whose  ambition  was  to  assure  at  least  the 
necessaries  of  life. 

The  Mesquite  settlement,  across  the  Virgin  from 
Bunker ville,  was  established  in  1880,  but  was  abandoned 
a  few  years  later,  again  to  be  settled  in  1895,  from  Utah. 

There  was  a  returning  of  the  Saints  to  the  Muddy  Valley 
early  in  1881,  the  Patterson  ranch,  which  included  the 
town  of  Overton,  being  purchased  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Whit- 
more  of  St.  George.  Among  the  names  of  the  settlers  was 
at  least  one  of  Arizona  association,  that  of  Jesse  W.  Crosby. 
In  1892,  when  visited  by  Andrew  Jenson,  in  the  locality 
of  the  main  four  settlements  of  the  older  occupation 
were  only  a  score  of  families. 

Salt  Mountains  of  the  Virgin 

Arizona  lost  one  asset  of  large  value  in  the  transfer  of 
the  Virgin  River  section  to  Nevada.  Therein  is  an  enormous 
salt  deposit,  locally  called  the  Salt  Mountain,  though  three 
such  deposits  are  along  the  Virgin  between  St.  Thomas  and 
the  Colorado  River.  One  of  them  is  described  as  cropping 
out  along  the  foot  of  a  high  bluff  of  brown  clay,  exposed 
for  80  feet  in  height  from  the  base  of  the  hill,  though  the 
depth  below  its  surface  is  unknown.  The  salt  is  obtained 
by  blasting,  as  it  is  too  hard  to  dig  with  picks.  It  is  of 
excellent  quality  and  of  remarkable  purity.  In  early  days, 
from  this  deposit  was  obtained  the  salt  needed  in  southern 
Nevada,  southwestern  Utah  and  much  of  Arizona,  steamers 
carrying  it  down  the  Colorado  southward.  W.  H.  Johnson 
was  in  early  charge  of  the  salt  mines.  is  widow  now  is 
resident  in  Mesa. 


127 


Peaceful  Frontier  Communities 

Writing  about  Overton,  an  early  historian  gives  details 
of  the  happiness  that  comes  to  an  individual  who  relies 
wholly  upon  the  produce  of  his  land  and  who  lives  apart 
from  what  is  called  civilization  and  its  evils.  He  tells  of 
the  sense  of  comfort,  security  and  satisfaction  felt  by  the 
brethren  who  own  the  land  whereon  their  homes  are  set 
and  are  not  afraid  of  a  little  expense  of  bone  and  muscle 
to  sustain  themselves  comfortably. 

They  dress  as  well  or  better  than  those  in  more  favored  circum- 
stances, set  a  plentiful  table  and  enjoy  such  peace  and  quiet  that 
seldom  falls  to  the  lot  of  people  in  these  troublous  times.  No  pro- 
faning is  heard;  the  smoking,  chewing  and  drinking  habits  are  strangers 
to  the  "hope  of  Israel"  here;  no  racing  of  horses  at  breakneck  speed 
through  the  streets  is  endured  in  our  peaceful  little  town;  in  fact  the 
only  complaint  is,  and  not  without  just  cause,  that  it  is  rather  too 
quiet. 

Along  this  same  line,  Dellenbaugh  wrote  of  the  southern 
Utah  settlements: 

As  pioneers  the  Mormons  were  superior  to  any  class  I  have  ever 
come  in  contact  with,  their  idea  being  homemaking  and  not  skimming 
the  cream  off  the  country  with  a  six-shooter  and  a  whiskey  bottle. 
One  of  the  first  things  the  Mormon  always  did  in  establishing  a  new 
settlement  was  to  plant  fruit,  shade  trees  and  vines  and  the  like,  so 
that  in  a  very  few  years  there  was  a  condition  of  comfort  only  attained 
by  a  non-Mormon  settlement  after  the  lapse  of  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
Dancing  is  a  regular  amusement  among  the  Mormons  and  is  en- 
couraged by  the  authorities  as  a  harmless  and  beneficial  recreation. 
The  dances  were  always  opened  by  prayer. 

In  the  journal  of  Major  J.  W.  Powell,  under  date  of 
August  30,  1869,  there  is  special  mention  of  the  hospitable 
character  of  the  Mormons  of  the  Virgin  River  section. 
They  had  been  advised  by  Brigham  Young  to  look  out  for 
the  Powell  expedition  and  Asa  (Joseph  Asay)  and  his  sons 
continued  to  watch  the  river,  though  a  false  report  had 
come  that  the  Powell  expedition  was  lost.  They  were 
looking  for  wreckage  that  might  give  some  indication  of 
the  fate  of  the  explorers  when  Powell's  boats  appeared. 

128 


Powell  was  very  appreciative  of  Asay's  kindnefss  and  wrote 
enthusiastically  of  the  coming,  next  day  from  St.  Thomas, 
of  James  Leithead,  with  a  wagonload  of  supplies  that 
included  melons. 


129 


Chapter  Twelve 


®1{B  pj«tt«&  (Bxhtt 


Development  of  a  Communal  System 

At  one  stage  of  Church  development  there  was  dis- 
position to  favor  the  establishment  in  each  village  of  the 
Saints  of  communal  conditions,  wherein  work  should  be 
done  according  to  the  ability  of  the  individual.  Crops  and 
the  results  of  all  industry  were  to  be  gathered  at  a  common 
center  for  common  benefit.  Something  of  the  same  sort  was 
known  among  the  Shakers  and  other  religious  sects  in 
eastern  states.  Thus  in  Utah  was  founded  the  United  Order, 
which,  however,  at  no  time  had  any  direct  connection  with 
the  central  Church  organization. 

The  best  development  of  the  idea  was  at  Brigham  City, 
Utah,  sixty  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  where  the  move- 
ment was  kept  along  business  lines  by  none  other  than 
Lorenzo  Snow,  later  President  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints  and  the  officer  credited  with 
having  first  put  that  great  organization  upon  a  business 
footing.  He  established  a  communal  system  that  proved 
a  potent  beneficial  force  both  for  the  individual  and  the 
community.  The  start  was  in  1864,  with  the  establish- 
ment of  a  mercantile  business,  from  which  there  were 
successive  expansions  to  include  about  forty  industries, 
such  as  factories  at  which  were  made  felt  and  straw  hats, 
clothing,  pottery,  brooms  and  brushes,  harnesses  and  sad- 
dles, furnitiu-e,  vehicles  and  tinware,  while  there  were  three 
sawmills,  a  large  woolen  mill  and  a  cotton  goods  mill,  the 
last  with  large  attached  cotton  acreage,  in  southern  Utah. 
There  were  5000  sheep,  1000  head  of  stock  cattle  and  500 

130 


cows,  supplying  a  model  dairy  and  the  community  meat 
market.  The  settlement  was  self-clothed  and  self-fed. 
Education  had  especial  attention  and  all  sorts  of  enter- 
tainment of  meritorious  character  were  fostered.  Members 
of  the  Order  .labored  in  their  own  industries,  were  paid  good 
wages  in  scrip  and  participated  in  the  growth  of  general 
values.  In  1875  the  value  of  the  products  reached  $260,000. 

By  1879  there  had  been  departure  from  the  complete 
unity  of  the  United  Order  plan,  though  eleven  departments 
still  remained  intact.  There  had  been  adverse  circum- 
stances, through  which  in  nine  months  had  been  lost  about 
S53,000.  The  woolen  mill,  a  model,  twice  had  been 
destroyed  by  fire.  There  had  been  jealousies  outside  the 
movement,  through  which  a  profitable  railroad  contract 
had  been  ruined,  and  federal  authorities  had  taxed  the 
sorip  issue  about  $10,000  per  annum.  The  first  assess- 
ment was  paid,  but  later  was  turned  back.  But,  with  all 
these  reverses  piled  upon  the  people,  the  unity  remained 
intact,  and  today,  upon  the  foundation  laid  by  the  United 
Order  and  its  revered  local  leader,  Brigham  City  is  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  communities  of  the  intermountain 
region. 

Edward  Bellamy,  the  writer,  became  so  much  interested 
in  what  he  had  heard  of  the  United  Order  in  Brigham  City, 
that  he  made  a  special  trip  to  Utah  in  1886,  to  study  its 
operation.  He  spent  three  days  with  President  Lorenzo 
Snow,  hstening  to  his  experiences  and  explanation  of  the 
movement.  As  a  result  of  this  lengthy  interview,  Mr. 
Bellamy,  the  following  year,  wrote  his  book,  ''Looking 
Backward.'* 

Another  example  of  the  operation  of  the  United  Order 
was  in  Kane  County,  Utah,  about  eighteen  miles  north  of 
the  Arizona  fine.  In  March,  1871,  there  was  re-settlement 
of  Long  Valley,  where  two  towns,  Berryville  and  Winsor, 
had  been  deserted  because  of  Indian  encroachments.  The 
new  settlers  mainly  came  from  the  breaking  up  of  the 

131 


Muddy  Mission  settlements  in  Nevada,  Long  Valley 
having  been  suggested  by  President  Brigham  Young  as  a 
possible  location.  About  200  of  the  former  Muddy  resi- 
dents entered  the  valley  in  March,  1871,  founding  Glendale 
and  Mount  Carmel.  The  residents  of  the  latter,  in  March, 
1874,  organized  into  the  United  Order.  The  following  year, 
a  number  who  wished  to  practice  the  Order  in  its  fullness, 
founded  a  new  settlement,  midway  between  Glendale  and 
Mount  Carmel,  and  named  it  Orderville.  This  settlement 
still  is  in  existence,  though  the  communistic  plan  had  to  be 
broken  up  about  1883,  there  having  arisen  a  spirit  of  compe- 
tition and  of  individual  ambition.  The  plan  of  operation 
was  comprehensive  of  many  features,  yet  simple.  The 
community  ate  in  a  common  dining  hall,  with  kitchen  and 
bakery  attached.  Dwelling  houses  were  close  together  and 
built  in  the  form  of  a  square.  There  were  work  shops, 
offices,  schoolhouse,  etc.,  and  manufactories  of  lumber 
and  woolen  products. 

Not  a  General  Church  Movement 

There  had  been  an  idea  among  the  adherents  to  the 
Order  that  they  were  fulfilling  a  Church  commandment. 
They  were  disabused  by  Apostle  Erastus  Snow,  who 
suggested  that  each  occupation  be  taken  up  by  small 
companies,  each  to  run  a  different  department.  There  was 
conference  with  the  First  Presidency,  but  the  Church 
declined  responsibility  sought  to  be  thrown  upon  it.  So 
there  were  many  defections,  though  for  years  thereafter 
there  was  incorporation,  to  hold  the  mills  and  machinery, 
lands  and  livestock. 

The  United  Order  by  no  means  was  general.  It  was 
limited  to  certain  localities  and  certain  settlements,  each  of 
which  tried  to  work  out  its  own  problems  in  its  own  way, 
entirely  without  connection  with  any  other  community  of 
the  sort.  In  a  few  instances  the  plan  proved  successful,  but 
usually  only  where  there  was  some  directing  leader  of 
integrity  and  business  acumen,  such  as  at  Brigham  City. 

132 


FOUNDERS  OF  THE  COLORADO  FERRIES 


1 — John   L.   Blythe 
3 — Daniel   Bonelli 


2 — Harrison  Pearce 
4 — Anson   Call 


The  United  Order  principle  was  used,  with  varying 
degrees  of  relative  success,  in  a  number  of  northern  Arizona 
settlements,  especially  in  the  early  camps  on  the  lower 
Little  Colorado,  as  noted  elsewhere. 

The  Jones  party,  that  founded  Lehi,  was  organized  for 
traveling  and  working  under  the  United  Order,  drawing 
from  a  common  storehouse,  but  each  family,  nevertheless, 
looked  out  for  its  own  interest.  The  United  Order  lasted 
until  the  end  of  Jones*  control  of  the  colony. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  the  early  part  of  1880  at  Mesa, 
to  organize,  under  the  laws  of  Arizona,  to  carry  out  the 
principles  of  the  United  Order  as  far  as  practicable.  A 
corporation  was  formed,  "The  Mesa  Union,"  by  President 
Alex.  F.  Macdonald,  Geo.  C.  Dana,  Timothy  Mets,  Hyrum 
Smith  Phelps  and  Chas.  H.  Mallory.  About  the  only  thing 
done  by  this  organization  was  to  purchase  some  land,  but 
this  land  later  was  taken  by  members  of  the  Church. 

Mormon  Cooperative  Stores 

In  the  economy  and  frugality  that  marked,  necessarily, 
the  early  days  of  the  Mormon  people,  there  naturally  was 
resort  to  combination  in  the  purchases  of  supplies  and  in  the 
marketing  of  products.  When  the  United  Order  declined, 
there  was  resort  to  another  economic  pioneer  enterprise,  the 
cooperative  store,  established  in  many  of  the  new  com- 
munities. Each  store,  to  an  extent,  was  under  local  Church 
supervision  and,  while  open  to  the  trade  of  all,  still  was 
established  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  the  brethren.  Under 
early-day  conditions,  the  idea  undoubtedly  was  a  good  one. 
Mercantile  profits  were  left  withiti  the  community,  divided 
among  many,  while  the  "Co-op"  also  served  as  a  means 
through  which  the  community  produce  could  be  handled 
to  best  advantage. 

In  the  north,  June  27,  1881,  at  Snowflake,  with  Jesse 
N.  Smith  at  its  head,  was  organized  a  company  that  started 
a  cooperative  store  at  Holbrook,  taking  over,  largely  for 
debt,  a  store  that  had  been  operated  by  John  W.  Young 

133 


at  old  Holbrook.  In  January,  1882,  this  establishment  was 
left  high  and  dry  by  the  moving  of  Holbrook  station  a  mile 
and  a  half  west  to  Berardo's,  or  Horsehead  Crossing. 
There  was  difficulty  in  getting  a  location  at  the  new  site, 
so  this  store,  in  February,  1882,  was  moved  to  Woodruff. 

In  January,  1881,  at  Snowflake  was  started  a  "Co-op" 
that  merged  into  the  Arizona  Cooperative  Mercantile 
Institution.  The  following  month,  under  David  K.  Udall, 
a  similar  institution  was  opened  at  St.  Johns,  where  there 
was  attached  a  flouring  mill.  Both  at  St.  Johns  and  Snow- 
flake  were  cooperative  livestock  herds. 

One  of  the  most  extensive  enterprises  of  this  sort  was 
started  in  Mesa  in  September,  1884,  with  Chas.  I.  Robson, 
George  Passey  and  Oscar  M.  Stewart  at  its  head.  The  first 
stock  was  valued  at  $45,  yet  in  1894,  the  Zenos  Cooperative 
Mercantile  &  Manufacturing  Institution  had  a  paid-up 
capital  stock  of  over  $25,000  and  a  two-story  building,  and 
had  paid  dividends  ranging  from  10  to  50  per  cent  annually. 

Almost  every  phase  of  communal  effort  now  appears  to 
have  been  abandoned  in  Arizona  Mormon  business  life, 
probably  because  found  unnecessary  in  the  latter-day 
development  in  which  the  membership  of  the  Church  has 
had  so  large  a  share. 

The  Author  feels  there  should  be  addition  of  a  state- 
ment that  the  Church  is  far  from  acceptance  of  the  Euro- 
pean idea  of  communism,  for  one  of  its  tenets  is,  "Thou 
shalt  not  be  idle,  for  he  that  is  idle  shall  not  eat  of  the 
bread  nor  wear  the  garments  of  the  laborer."  Nothing  of 
political  socialism  ever  was  known  in  the  United  Order. 


134 


Chapter  Thirteen 


Failure  of  the  First  Expeditions 

The  first  attempt  from  the  north  of  the  Mormon  Church 
to  colonize  within  the  present  Umits  of  Arizona  failed.  It 
was  by  means  of  an  expedition  placed  in  charge  of  Horton 
D.  Haight.  A  number  of  the  colonists  met  March  8,  1873, 
in  the  old  tabernacle  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  there  were 
instructed  by  President  Brigham  Young.  At  Winsor  Castle 
they  were  warned  to  be  friendly  to  but  not  too  trustful  of 
the  Indians  and  not  to  sell  them  ammunition,  "for  they 
are  warring  against  our  government.''  The  route  was  by 
way  of  Lee's  Ferry,  the  crossing  completed  May  11.  On 
the  22d  was  reached  the  Little  Colorado,  the  Rio  de  Lino 
(Flax  River)  of  the  Spaniards.  From  the  ferry  to  the 
river  had  been  broken  a  new  road,  over  a  tolerably  good 
route.  There  was  no  green  grass,  and  water  was  infre- 
quent, even  along  the  Little  Colorado,  it  being  found 
necessary  to  dig  wells  in  the  dry  channel.  Twenty-four 
miles  below  Black  Falls  there  was  encampment,  the  road 
blocked  by  sand  drifts. 

On  June  1  there  returned  to  the  expedition  in  camp 
an  exploring  party,  under  Haight,  that  had  been  absent 
eight  days  and  that  had  traveled  136  miles  up  the  river. 
There  was  report  of  the  trip  that  the  country  was  barren, 
with  narrow  river  bottoms,  with  alkaline  soil,  water  bad 
and  faihng,  with  no  spot  found  suitable  in  which  to  settle. 
There  also  appeared  to  be  fear  of  the  Apache.  So  the  ex- 
pedition painfully  retraced  its  steps  to  Navajo  Springs, 
sending  ahead  a  dispatch  to  President  Young,  giving  a  full 

135 


report  of  conditions  and  making  suggestion  that  the  settle- 
ment plan  had  better  be  abandoned.  At  Moen  Copie  on 
the  return  was  met  a  party  of  29  missionaries,  under  Henry- 
Day. 

An  interesting  journal  of  the  trip  was  written  by  Henry 
Holmes  of  the  vanguard.  He  was  especially  impressed 
with  the  aridity  of  the  country.  He  thought  it  "barren 
and  forbidding,  although  doubtless  the  Lord  had  a  purpose 
in  view  when  He  made  it  so.  Few  of  the  creeks  ran  half  a 
mile  from  their  heads.  The  country  is  rent  with  deep 
chasms,  made  still  deeper  by  vast  torrents  that  pour  down 
them  during  times  of  heavy  rains."  There  were  found 
petrified  trees.  One  of  them  was  210  feet  long  and  another 
was  over  five  feet  across  the  butt,  this  in  a  land  where  not 
a  tree  or  bush  was  found  growing.  Holmes  fervently  ob- 
served, "However,  I  do  not  know  whether  it  makes  any 
difference  whether  the  country  is  barren  or  fruitful,  if  the 
Lord  has  a  work  to  do  in  it,"  in  this  especially  referring  to 
the  Indians,  among  whom  there  could  be  missionary  effort. 
Jacob  Miller  acted  as  secretary  of  the  expedition. 

On  the  back  track,  the  company  all  had  ferried  to  the 
north  bank  of  the  river  by  July  7,  although  there  had  to  be 
improvised  navigation  of  the  Colorado,  for  the  ferry-boat 
had  disappeared  in  the  spring  flood  and  all  that  remained 
was  a  little  skiff,  behind  which  the  wagon  bodies  were 
floated  over.  In  all,  were  ferried  54  wagons,  112  animals, 
109  men,  6  women  and  a  child. 

This  first  company  had  been  called  from  different  parts 
of  Utah  and  was  not  at  all  homogeneous,  yet  traveled  in 
peace  and  union.  The  members  assembled  morning  and 
evening  for  prayers,  at  which  the  blessings  of  the  Lord  were 
asked  upon  themselves  and  their  teams  and  upon  the 
elements  that  surrounded  them. 

President  Young  directed  the  members  of  the  1873  party 
to  remain  in  Arizona,  but  the  message  was  not  received  till 
the  river  had  been  passed.    The  following  year  he  ordered 

136 


another  expedition  southward.  According  to  a  journal  of 
Wm  H.  Solomon,  who  was  clerk  of  the  party,  departure 
from  Kanab  was  on  February  6,  1874.  John  L.  Bljrthe 
(who  had  remained  at  Moen  Copie  after  the  1873  trip) 
was  in  charge.  With  Blythe  was  his  wife.  Ira  Hatch  took 
his  family.  Fifteen  other  individuals  were  included. 
Progress  southward  was  stopped  at  Moen  Copie  by  reports 
of  a  Navajo  uprising.  Most  of  the  party  returned  to  Utah 
after  a  few  weeks,  leaving  behind  Hambhn,  Hatch  and  Ten- 
ney. 
Missionary  Scouts  in  Northeastern  Arizona 

When  the  unsuccessful  expedition  turned  back  to  Utah 
in  the  summer  of  1873,  there  remained  John  L.  Blythe  of 
Salt  Lake  and  a  number  of  other  missionaries.  They 
located  among  the  Indians  on  the  Moen  Copie,  where  they 
sowed  the  ground  and  planted  trees  and  grapevines,  also 
planting  at  Moabi,  about  seven  miles  to  the  southwest. 
Blythe  remained  at  Moen  Copie,  alone  with  his  family, 
until  1874,  including  the  time  of  the  Indian  trouble  more 
particularly  referred  to  in  this  volume  in  connection  with 
the  work  of  Jacob  Hamblin. 

The  failure  of  the  Haight  expedition  in  no  wise  daunted 
the  Church  authorities  in  their  determination  to  extend 
southward.  In  general,  reports  that  came  concerning  the 
Little  Colorado  Valley  were  favorable.  Finally,  starting 
from  Salt  Lake  October  30,  1875,  was  sent  a  scouting  ex- 
pedition, headed  by  Jas.  S.  Brown,  who  had  a  dozen 
companions  when  he  crossed  into  Arizona.  This  party  made 
headquarters  at  Moen  Copie,  where  a  stone  house  was  built 
for  winter  quarters.  Brown  and  two  others  then  traveled 
up  the  Little  Colorado  for  a  considerable  distance,  not  well 
defined  in  his  narrative,  finding  a  fine,  open  country,  with 
water  plentiful  and  with  grass  abundant,  with  good  farming 
land  and  timber  available.  The  trio  followed  the  Beale 
trail  westward  to  a  point  southwest  of  the  San  Francisco 
Mountains,  where  there  was  crossing  back  to  the  Little 

137 


Colorado.  Christmas  Day,  before  Moen  Copie  was  reached, 
the  scouts  were  placed  in  serious  danger  by  a  terrific  snow- 
storm. Brown  returned  to  Salt  Lake  with  his  report, 
January  14,  1876,  after  traveling  1300  miles,  mainly  on 
horseback. 

Here  might  be  stated  that  Brown  was  none  other  than  a 
Mormon  Battalion  member  who  had  participated  in  the 
discovery  of  gold  at  Sutter's  Fort  in  California.  At  some 
time  prior  to  coming  to  Arizona  he  had  lost  a  leg,  shot  off 
by  hunters  who  had  mistaken  him  for  a  bear.  He  should 
not  be  confounded  with  Capt.  James  Brown  of  the  Bat- 
talion. 

Foundation  of  Four  Settlements 

The  first  Presidenc}^  apparently  had  anticipated  Brown's 
favorable  report,  for  quick  action  was  had  immediately 
thereafter.  Four  companies,  each  of  fifty  men  and  their 
families,  were  organized,  under  Lot  Smith,  Jesse  0.  Bal- 
lenger,  George  Lake  and  Wm.  C.  Allen.  The  200  mis- 
sionaries were  "called"  from  many  parts  of  Utah,  but 
mainly  from  the  north  and  around  Salt  Lake.  There  was  no 
formal  gathering  of  the  companies.  Each  member  went 
southward  as  he  could,  to  report  to  his  leader  on  the  Little 
Colorado.  The  assembling  point  was  Kanab.  Thence  there 
was  assemblage  of  groups  of  about  ten  families  each,  with- 
out reference  to  companies.  An  entertaining  detail  of  this 
journey  lately  was  given  the  Historian  in  Phoenix  by  David 
E.  Adams,  captain  of  one  of  the  Tens. 

The  leading  teams  reached  Sunset  Crossing  on  the 
Little  Colorado  March  23,  1876,  the  migration  continuing 
for  many  weeks  thereafter.  Allen,  Smith  and  Lake  con- 
tinued up  the  river  twenty  miles,  to  a  point  about  five 
miles  east  of  the  present  site  of  St.  Joseph. 

From  exact  data  furnished  by  R.  E.  Porter  of  St. 
Joseph  is  learned  that  Allen's  company  settled  at  the  point 
where  this  march  ended,  establishing  Allen's  Camp.  There 
was  later  change  to  a  point  one  mile  east  of  the  present 

138 


CRUSHING  THE  LlTi  LE  CUEOKADO 


THE  OLD  EORT  AT.  BRIGHAM  CITY 


WOODRUFF  DAM.  AFTER  ONE  OF  THE  FREQUENT 
WASHOUTS 


THE  FIRST  PERMANENT  DAM  ON  THE  LITTLE  COLORADO 
AT  ST.  JOSEPH 


August  23,  1876,  a  postoflBce  was  established,  with  John 
McLaws  in  charge.  A  weekly  mail  service  operated  between 
Santa  Fe  and  Prescott. 

The  first  child  in  the  settlement  was  Hannah  Maria 
Colson,  July  17,  1876.  The  first  death  was  exactly  a  year 
later,  that  of  Clara  Gray.  The  first  school  district  was 
established  and  the  first  school  was  taught  during  the 
winter  of  1877-78.  Of  all  the  lower  Little  Colorado  settle- 
ments, this  is  the  only  one  now  existent. 

The  present  St.  Joseph  lies  only  a  hundred  rods  from  the 
main  line  of  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  system,  25  miles  east 
of  Winslow.  The  first  Allen's  Camp,  in  April,  1876,  was 
three  miles  east  of  the  present  site.  There  was  a  change  to 
the  western  location  in  June,  at  the  suggestion  of  Daniel 
H.  Wells,  who  had  followed  for  an  inspection  of  the  new 
settlements.  Later  there  was  survey,  nearby,  of  a  townsite, 
the  same  that  now  is  occupied.  Among  the  few  remaining 
settlers  of  the  Little  Colorado  settlements,  is  Joseph  Hill 
Richards,  who  writes  that  he  was  the  first  justice  of  the 
peace  for  Yavapai  County  in  that  region  and  the  first 
captain  there  of  territorial  militia.  He  also  was  prominent 
in  the  Church  organization. 

Struggling  with  a  Treacherous  River 

Every  settlement  along  the  Little  Colorado  River  has 
known  repeated  troubles  in  maintaining  its  water  supply. 
It  would  be  vain  recapitulation  to  tell  just  how  many  times 
each  of  the  poor  struggling  communities  had  to  rally  back 
on  the  sands  of  the  river  bed  to  built  up  anew  the  structure 
of  gravel  and  brush  that  must  be  depended  upon,  if  bread 
were  to  be  secured  from  the  land.  The  Little  Colorado  is 
a  treacherous  stream  at  best,  with  a  broad  channel  that 
wanders  at  will  through  the  alluvial  country  that  melts 
like  sugar  or  salt  at  the  touch  of  water. 

There  are  instances  that  stand  out  in  this  struggle  for 
water.  The  first  joint  dam  of  Allen's  Camp  and  Obed  cost 
the  settlers  S5000.   It  is  told  that  960  day's  work  was  done 

141 


on  the  dam  and  500  days  more  work  on  the  Allen  ditch. 
This  dam  went  down  at  the  first  flood,  for  it  raised  the  water 
about  twelve  feet.  Then,  in  the  spring  of  1877,  another 
dam  was  built,  a  mile  and  a  half  upstream,  and  this  again 
washed  away.  In  1879  the  St.  Joseph  settlers  sought  the 
third  damsite  at  LeRoux  Wash,  about  two  and  a  half  miles 
west  of  the  present  Holbrook.  In  1881  they  spent  much 
money  and  effort  on  a  plan  to  make  a  high  dam  at  the  site 
of  the  first  construction,  but  this  again  was  taken  down- 
stream by  the  river.  In  1882,  a  pile  dam  was  built  across 
the  river,  and  it  again  was  spoiled  by  the  floods.  This  dam 
generally  was  in  use  until  1891,  but  had  to  be  repaired 
almost  every  year.  In  the  year  named,  work  was  started 
upon  what  was  hoped  to  be  a  permanent  dam,  at  an  esti- 
mated cost  of  $60,000.  In  1894,  Andrew  Jenson  wrote  that 
at  least  $50,000  had  been  lost  by  the  community  upon  its 
dams.  Noting  the  fact  that  only  fifteen  families  consti- 
tuted the  population,  he  called  St.  Joseph  ''the  leading 
community  in  pain,  determination  and  unflinching  courage 
in  dealing  with  the  elements  around  them." 

St.  Joseph,  as  early  as  1894,  had  completed  its  eighth 
dam  across  the  river.  Jos.  W.  Smith  wrote  of  the  dedication 
of  the  dam,  in  March  of  that  year.  He  remarked  especially 
upon  the  showing  of  rosy-cheeked,  well-clad  children,  of 
whom  the  greater  part  of  the  assemblage  was  composed, 
"showing  that  the  people  were  by  no  means  destitute,  even 
if  they  had  been  laboring  on  ditches  and  dams  so  much  for 
the  last  eighteen  years." 

The  main  prayer  of  the  exercise  was  brief,  but  charac- 
teristic: "0  Lord,  we  pray  that  this  dam  may  stand,  if 
it  be  Thy  will— if  not,  let  Thy  will  be  done."  The  invo- 
cation was  effective.  The  dam  stood,  as  is  illustrated  within 
this  book. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  Sunset 

Sunset,  the  lowest  of  the  settlements,  was  near  the 
present   railroad   crossing  of  the   river,   below  the  river 

142 


junction  with  Clear  Creek.  There  had  been  a  temporary 
location  two  miles  upstream.  The  main  structure  was  a 
stockade,  twelve  rods  square,  mainly  of  drift  cottonwood 
logs.  Within  were  rock-built  houses,  a  community  dining 
hall  and  a  well.  Combination  was  made  with  Ballenger, 
across  the  stream,  in  the  building  of  a  dam,  two  and  a  half 
miles  above  the  settlement. 

Apparently  the  sandy  land  and  the  difficulty  of  irri- 
gating it  drove  the  settlers  away,  until,  finally,  in  1885, 
Lot  Smith's  family  was  the  only  one  left  upon  the  ground, 
and  it  departed  in  1888. 

Years  later,  Andrew  Jenson  found  the  rock  walls  and 
chimneys  still  standing.  ''Everything  is  desert,"  he  wrote, 
"the  whole  landscape  looks  dreary  and  forbidding  and  the 
lonely  graveyard  on  the  hillside  only  reminds  one  of  the 
population  which  once  was  and  that  is  no  more."  Only 
ruin  marks  the  place  where  once  was  headquarters  of  the 
Little  Colorado  Stake  of  Zion.  The  settlement  was  badly 
placed,  for  floods  came  within  a  rod  of  the  fort  and  covered 
the  wheat  fields. 

Lot  Smith  wrote  in  poetic  vein,  "This  is  a  strange 
country,  belonging  to  a  people  whose  lands  the  rivers  have 
spoiled."  Very  practically,  however,  he  wrote  of  good  lands 
and  slack  water  supply,  "though  the  river  shows  it  would 
be  a  mighty  rushing  torrent  when  the  rains  commence  in 
summer,  with  the  appearance  of  being  25  miles  broad,  and 
the  Indians  told  us  that  if  we  are  indeed  to  live  where  we 
are  encamped,  we  had  better  fix  some  scaffolding  in  the 
trees." 

In  August,  1878,  a  correspondent  of  the  Deseret  News 
wrote  from  Sunset  that  for  a  week  the  rain  had  been  pour- 
ing down  almost  incessantly,  that  the  whole  bottom  was 
covered  with  water,  that  some  of  the  farms  were  submerged 
and  grain  in  shocks  was  flooded,  that  the  grain  of  Woodruff 
was  entirely   destroyed,  the  grist   mill   of  Brigham   City 

143 


inundated  and  the  grain  stacks  there  were  deep  in  water, 
with  the  inhabitants  using  boats  and  rafts  to  get  around 
their  farms. 

Village  Communal  Organization 

The  settlements  all  established  themselves  under  the 
United  Order.  Early  in  1876  one  of  the  settlers  wrote  from 
Allen's  Camp,  "It  is  all  United  Order  here  and  no  beating 
around  the  bush,  for  it  is  the  intention  to  go  into  it  to  the 
full  meaning  of  the  term."  This  chronicler,  John  L.  Blythe, 
April  11,  1876,  again  wrote,  "The  companies  are  going  into 
the  United  Order  to  the  whole  extent,  giving  in  everything 
they  possess,  their  labor,  time  and  talent."  In  August  there 
was  a  report  from  the  same  locality  that  "the  people  are 
living  in  a  united  system,  each  laboring  for  the  good  of  all 
the  community  and  an  excellent  feeling  prevails." 

The  communal  system  was  given  formal  adoption  at 
Allen's  Camp  April  28,  1877,  when  articles  were  agreed 
upon  for  a  branch  of  the  United  Order.  June  5,  1877,  with 
Wm.  C.  Allen  presiding,  there  was  an  appraisal  of  prop  erty 
and  a  separation  of  duties.  Henry  M.  Tanner  (who  still 
is  in  St.  Joseph),  was  secretary,  John  Bushman  foreman  of 
the  farm,  James  Walker  water  master  and  Moses  D. 
Steele  superintendent  of  livestock.  Niels  Nielsen  was  in 
charge  of  ox  teams  and  Jos.  H.  Rogers  in  charge  of  horse 
teams,  harness  and  wagons.  The  Church  historian  has 
given  in  detail  the  manner  in  which  the  system  worked: 

From  the  beginning  the  Saints  at  Allen's  Camp  disciplined  them- 
selves strictly  according  to  Church  rules.  Every  morning  the  Saints, 
at  the  sound  of  the  triangle,  assembled  in  the  schoolhouse  for  prayer, 
on  which  occasion  they  would  not  only  pray  and  sing,  but  sometimes 
brethren  would  make  brief  remarks.  The  same  was  resorted  to  in 
the  evening.  They  did  not  all  eat  at  the  same  table  (a  common 
custom  followed  in  the  other  camps),  but  nevertheless  great  union, 
peace  and  love  prevailed  among  the  people,  and  none  seemed  to  take 
advantage  of  his  neighbor.  Peace,  harmony  and  brotherly  love 
characterized  all  the  settlers  at  Allen's  Camp  from  the  very  beginning. 

In  August,  1878,  Samuel  G.  Ladd  wrote  from  the  new 
144 


St.  Joseph,  that  the  United  Order  worked  harmoniously  and 
prosperously.  In  that  year  manufacturing  of  brooms  was 
commenced  by  John  Bushman.  Up  to  1882  each  family 
was  drawing  from  one  common  storehouse.  In  1883  the 
Order  was  dissolved  at  St.  Joseph  and  the  stewardship  plan 
adopted.  Each  family  received  its  part  of  the  divided  land 
and  a  settlement  of  what  each  man  originally  had  put  into 
the  Order.  Proforma  organization  of  the  Order  was  con-^ 
tinned  until  January,  1887. 

Hospitality  Was  of  Generous  Sort 

From  Sunset  Crossing  Camp,  G.  C.  Wood  wrote,  in 
Apiil,  1876.  **The  brethren  built  a  long  shanty,  with  a  long 
table  in  it  and  all  ate  their  meals  together,  worked  together 
and  got  along  finely."  In  February,  1878,  President  Lot 
Smith  wrote  the  Deseret  News  in  a  strain  that  indicated 
doubt  concerning  the  efficiency  of  the  United  Order  system. 
His  letter  told: 

This  mission  has  had  a  strange  history  so  far,  most  who  came 
having  got  weak  in  the  back  or  knees  and  gone  home.  Some,  I  be- 
lieve, have  felt  somewhat  exercised  about  the  way  we  are  getting 
along,  and  the  mode  in  which  we  are  conducting  our  culinary  affairs. 
Now,  I  have  always  had  a  preference  for  eating  with  my  family  and 
have  striven  to  show  that  I  was  willing  to  enlarge  as  often  as  circum- 
stances require,  and  the  same  feeling  seemed  to  prevail  in  these  settle- 
ments. We  have  enlarged  ourselves  to  the  amount  of  forty  in  one  day. 
We  have  noticed  that  most  people  who  pass  the  road  are  willing  to 
stop  and  board  with  us  a  week  or  two,  notwithstanding  our  poor 
provisions  and  the  queer  style  it  was  served  up. 

In  July  of  the  same  year,  Lorenzo  Hatch  wrote  from 
Woodruff,  "At  Sunset,  Brigham  City  and  Woodruff,  the 
settlements  eat  at  one  table,  hence  we  have  no  poor  nor 
rich  among  us.  The  Obed  camp  also  had  gone  into  the  Uni- 
ted Order  in  the  fullest  sense  in  May,  1876." 

Brigham  City's  Varied  Industries 

Ballenger,  in  September,  1878,  was  renamed  Brigham 
City,  in  honor  of  President  Brigham  Young.  Its  people 
were  found  by  Erastus  Snow  in  September,  1878,  with  a 

145 


remarkable  organization,  operating  in  part  under  the  United 
Order  system.  There  was  a  fort  200  feet  square,  with  rocky 
walls  seven  feet  high.  Inside  were  36  dwelling  houses,  each 
15x13  feet.  On  the  north  side  was  the  dining  hall,  80x20 
feet,  with  two  rows  of  tables,  to  seat  more  than  150  persons. 
Adjoining  was  a  kitchen,  25x20  feet,  with  an  annexed  bake- 
house. Twelve  other  dwelling  houses  were  mentioned,  as 
well  as  a  cellar  and  storehouse.  Water  was  secured  within 
the  enclosure  from  two  good  wells.  South  of  the  fort  were 
corrals  and  stockyards.  The  main  industry  was  the  farming 
of  274  acres,  more  than  one-half  of  it  in  wheat.  A  pottery 
was  in  charge  of  Brother  Behrman,  reported  to  have  been 
confident  that  he  could  surpass  any  of  the  potteries  in 
Utah  for  good  ware.  Milk  was  secured  from  142  cows. 
One  family  was  assigned  to  the  sawmill  in  the  mountains. 
J.  A.  Woods  taught  the  first  school.  Jesse  0.  Ballenger,  the 
first  leader,  was  succeeded  in  1878  by  George  Lake,  who 
reported  that,  "while  the  people  were  living  together  in 
the  United  Order  they  generally  ate  together  at  the  same 
table.  The  Saints,  as  a  rule,  were  very  earnest  in  their 
endeavors  to  carry  out  the  principles  of  the  Order,  but 
some  became  dissatisfied  and  moved  away."  Dis- 
couragement became  general,  and  in  1881  all  were 
released  from  the  mission.  The  settlement  practically 
was  broken  up,  the  people  scattering,  though  without 
dissension. 

Some  went  to  Forest  Dale,  and  later  to  the  Gila  River, 
and  some  left  Arizona  altogether.  There  was  a  surplus  from 
the  experiment  of  about  $8000,  which  went  to  the  Church, 
after  the  people  had  drawn  out  their  original  capital,  each 
taking  the  same  number  of  animals  and  the  same  amount 
of  property  contributed  originally.  In  1882  only  a  couple 
of  families  were  left  and  an  added  surplus  of  $2200  was  used 
by  the  Church  in  setthng  the  Gila  country.  In  1890  only 
the  family  of  Sidney  Wilson  remained  on  the  old  site  of 
Brigham  City.    The  Brigham  City  water-power  grist  mill 

146 


built  in  1878,  a  present  from  the  Church,  was  given  to  the 
people  of  Woodruff,  but  was  not  used. 

The  abandonment  of  Brigham  City  should  not  be 
blamed  to  the  weakness  of  a  communistic  system.  There  had 
been  frequent  failures  of  crops  and  there  had  come  a  de- 
termination to  find  a  locality  where  nature  would  smile 
more  often  upon  the  barley,  so  scouts  were  sent  to  the  San 
Juan  country  in  Utah,  the  Salt  River  country  and  to  the  _J 
Gila.  George  Lake,  Andrew  Anderson  and  George  W. 
Skinner  constituted  the  Gila  party.  Near  Smithville  they 
bought  land,  a  transaction  elsewhere  referred  to.  Anderson 
and  Skinner,  in  December,  1880,  returned  to  Brigham  City. 
At  that  point  a  business  meeting  was  called  at  once  and 
the  authorities  of  the  United  Order  approved  the  purchases 
made. 

January  1,  1878,  was  announced  a  census  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Little  Colorado  country.  Sunset  had  136 
inhabitants,  Ballenger  277,  Allen's  Camp  76.  Woodruff 
50  and  Moen  Copie  25,  a  total  of  564,  with  115  families. 

Brief  Lives  of  Obed  and  Taylor 

The  settlement  of  Obed,  three  miles  southwest  of  St. 
Joseph,  directly  south  of  old  Allen's  Camp  and  across  the 
river,  bears  date  from  June,  1876,  having  been  moved  a 
short  distance  from  the  first  camp  ground.  At  that  time 
was  built  a  fort  of  remarkable  strength,  twelve  rods 
square.  In  places,  the  walls  were  ten  feet  high.  There  were 
bastions,  with  portholes  for  defense,  at  two  of  the  corners, 
and  portholes  were  in  the  walls  all  around.  The  camp  at 
the  start  had  123  souls.  Cottonwood  logs  were  sawed  for 
lumber.  The  community  had  a  schoolhouse  in  January, 
1877,  and  a  denominational  school  was  started  the  next 
month,  with  Phoebe  McNeil  as  teacher.  The  settlement 
was  not  a  happy  one.  The  site  was  malarial,  selected  against 
Church  instructions,  and  there  were  the  usual  troubles  in 
the  washing  away  of  brush  and  log  dams.  The  population 
drifted  away,  until  there  was  abandonment  in  1878. 

147 


Taylor  was  a  small  settlement  on  the  Little  Colorado, 
about  three  miles  below  the  present  St.  Joseph,  and  should 
not  be  confounded  with  the  present  settlement  of  the  same 
name  near  Snowflake.  This  first  Taylor  was  established 
January  22,  1878,  by  eight  families,  mainly  from  Panguitch 
and  Beaver,  Utah.  In  the  United  Order  they  built  a  dining 
hall,  a  quarter-mile  back  from  the  river  and  organized  as  a 
ward,  with  John  Kartchner  at  its  head.  But  there  was  dis- 
couragement, not  unnaturally,  when  the  river  dam  went 
out  for  the  fifth  time.  Then,  in  July,  1878,  members  of  the 
settlement  departed,  going  to  the  present  site  of  Snowflake 
on  Silver  Creek.  They  included  a  number  of  Arkansas 
immigrants.  There  had  been  little  improvement  outside  of 
the  stockade  and  dining  hall,  and  for  most  of  the  time  the 
people  lived  in  their  wagons. 


148 


LEE  CABIN  AT  MOEN  AVI 


MOEX  CXJPIE  WOOLEN   MILL 
First  and  Only  One  in  Arizona 


Chapter  Fourteen 


Passing  of  the  Boston  Party 

Keen  interest  in  the  Southwest  was  excited  early  in 
1876  by  a  series  of  lectures  delivered  at  New  England  points 
by  Judge  Samuel  W.  Cozzens,  author  of  "The  Marvellous 
Country.'*  There  was  formed  the  American  Colonization 
Company,  with  Cozzens  as  president.  Two  companies  of 
men,  of  about  fifty  individuals  each,  were  dispatched 
from  Boston,  each  man  with  equipment  weighing  about 
thirty  pounds.  The  destination  was  a  fertile  valley  in 
northeastern  Arizona,  a  land  that  had  been  described 
eloquently,  probably  after  only  casual  observation.  The 
end  of  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  was  in  northern  New  Mexico. 
There  the  first  party  purchased  four  wagons  and  a  number 
of  mules  from  a  grading  contractor,  Pat  Shanley,  afterward 
a  cattleman  in  Gila  County. 

The  best  story  at  hand  of  the  Bostonians  is  from  one 
of  them,  Horace  E.  Mann,  who  for  years  has  been  a  pros- 
pector and  miner  and  who  now  is  a  resident  of  Phoenix. 
He  tells  that  the  journey  westward  was  without  particular 
incident  until  was  reached,  about  June  15,  the  actual 
destination,  the  valley  of  the  Little  Colorado  River,  on  the 
route  of  the  projected  Atlantic  &  Pacific  Railroad.  The 
travelers  were  astonished  to  find  the  country  already  taken 
up  by  a  number  of  companies  of  Mormon  colonists. 

In  New  England  the  Mormons  were  considered  a  blood- 
thirsty people,  eager  to  slay  any  Gentile  who  might  happen 
along.  It  is  not  to  be  intimated  that  the  Bostonians  were 
mollycoddles.    They  appear  to  have  been  above  even  the 

149 


average  of  the  time,  manly  and  stalwart  enough,  but  the 
truth  is,  as  told  by  Mr.  Mann,  the  expedition  did  not  care 
either  to  mingle  with  the  Mormons  or  to  incur  danger  of 
probable  slaughter.  Therefore,  the  parties  hurried  along  as 
fast  as  possible.  The  same  view  is  indicated  in  a  recent 
interview  with  David  E.  Adams,  of  one  of  the  Mormon  settle- 
ments. He  told  the  Historian  that  he  found  the  Bostonians 
suspicious  and  fearful.  At  that  time  the  Utah  people  still 
were  living  in  their  wagons.  They  were  breaking  ground 
and  were  starting  upon  the  construction  of  dams  in  the 
river.     The  second  Boston  party  passed  June  23. 

At  Sunset  Crossing  Mann  and  three  of  his  companions 
entered  upon  an  adventure  assuredly  novel  in  arid  Arizona. 
They  constructed  a  raft  of  drift  cottonwood  and  thought 
to  lighten  the  journey  by  floating  down  the  river.  It  was 
found  that  the  stream  soon  bent  toward  the  northward, 
away  from  the  wagon  trail.  Sometimes  there  were  shoals 
that  the  raft  had  to  be  pushed  over  and  again  there  were 
deep  whirlpools,  around  which  the  raft  went  merrily  a 
dozen  times  before  the  river  channel  again  could  be  entered. 
The  channel  walls  grew  higher  and  higher  until,  finally, 
the  navigators  pulled  the  raft  ashore  and  resumed  their 
journey  on  foot,  finding  their  wagon  in  camp  at  the  Canyon 
Diablo  crossing.  There,  apparently  considering  themselves 
safe  from  massacre,  was  an  encampment  of  a  week  or  more. 

At  the  Naming  of  Flagstaff 

Mann,  his  bunkie,  George  E.  Loring  (later  express  agent 
at  Phoenix),  a  Rhode  Islander  named  TiUinghast  and  three 
others  formed  an  advance  party  westward.  This  party  made 
camp  at  a  small  spring  just  south  of  San  Francisco  Moun- 
tains, where  Flagstaff  is  now.  Mann  remembers  the  place 
as  Volunteer  Springs  in  Harrigan  Valley.  While  waiting 
for  the  main  party  to  come  up,  the  advance  guard  hunted 
and  explored.  Mann  remembers  traveling  up  a  little  valley 
to  the  north  and  northwest  to  the  big  LeRoux  Springs, 
below  which  he  found  the  remains  of  a  burnt  cabin  and  of  a 

150 


stockade  corral,  possibly  occupied  in  the  past  as  a  station 
on  the  transcontinental  mail  route. 

With  reference  to  the  naming  of  Flagstaff,  Mr.  Mann  is 
very  definite.  He  says  that,  while  waiting  for  the  main 
party,  this  being  late  in  June,  1876,  and  merely  for  occu- 
pation, the  limbs  were  cut  from  a  straight  pine  tree  that  was 
growing  by  itself  near  the  camp.  The  bark  was  cut  away, 
leaving  the  tree  a  model  flagstaff  and  for  this  purpose  it 
was  used,  the  flag  being  one  owned  by  Tillinghast  and  the 
only  one  carried  by  the  expedition.  The  tree  was  not  cut 
down.  It  was  left  standing  upon  its  own  roots.  This  tale  is 
rather  at  variance  with  one  that  has  been  of  common 
acceptance  in  the  history  of  Flagstaff  and  the  date  was  not 
the  Fourth  of  July,  as  has  been  believed,  for  Mann  is  sure 
that  he  arrived  in  Prescott  in  June.  The  main  section  of 
the  first  party  came  a  few  days  later,  and  was  on  the 
ground  for  a  celebration  of  the  centennial  Fourth  of  July 
that  centered  around  the  flagstaff. 

Mann  also  remembers  that  Major  Maynadier,  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  expedition,  surveyed  a  townsite  for  Flag- 
staff, each  of  the  members  of  the  expedition  being  allotted 
a  tract.  The  second  party  joined  the  first  at  Flagstaff. 
Word  had  been  received  that  mechanics  were  needed  at 
Prescott  and  in  the  nearby  mines,  with  the  large  wages  of 
$6  a  day,  and  hence  there  was  eagerness  to  get  along  and 
have  a  share  in  the  wealth  of  the  land.  It  remains  to  be 
stated  that  all  the  men  found  no  difficulty  in  locating  them- 
selves in  and  around  Prescott  and  that  no  regret  was  felt 
over  the  failure  of  the  original  plan. 

Southern  Saints  Brought  Smallpox 

One  of  the  few  parties  of  Southern  States  Saints  known 
for  years  in  any  of  the  Stakes  of  Zion  joined  the  poverty- 
stricken  colonists  on  the  Little  Colorado  in  the  fall  of  1877. 
Led  by  Nelson  P.  Beebe,  it  numbered  about  100  individuals, 
coming  through  New  Mexico  by  wagon,  with  a  first  stop 
at  Savoia.     The  immigrants  were  without  means  or  food 

151 


and  there  had  to  be  haste  in  sending  most  of  them  on 
westward,  more  wagons  being  sent  from  the  Little  Colorado 
camps  for  their  conveyance.  At  Allen's  Camp  was  a  burden 
of  sickness,  mainly  fever  sufferers  from  the  unfortunate 
Obed.  To  these  visitors  were  added  seventy  of  the  "Arkan- 
sas Saints,"  who  came  October  4.  Yet  the  plucky  Allenites 
not  only  divided  with  the  strangers  their  scanty  store  of 
bread,  but  gave  a  dance  in  celebration  of  the  addition  to 
the  pioneers'  strength.  The  arrivals  brought  with  them  a 
new  source  of  woe.  One  of  their  number,  Thomas  West, 
had  contracted  smallpox  at  Albuquerque  and  from  this 
case  came  many  prostrations. 

Fort  Moroni,  at  LeRoux  Spring 

One  of  the  most  important  watering  places  of  north- 
eastern Arizona  is  LeRoux  Spring,  seven  miles  northwest  of 
Flagstaff  on  the  southwestern  slope  of  the  San  Francisco 
Mountains.  This  never-failing  spring  was  a  welcome  spot 
to  the  pioneers  who  traveled  the  rocky  road  along  the  35th 
parallel  of  latitude.  San  Francisco  Spring  (or  Old  Town 
Spring)  at  the  present  Flagstaff,  was  much  less  dependable 
and  at  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  Atlantic  &  Pacific 
railroad  in  1881-2,  water  often  was  hauled  to  Flagstaff 
from  the  larger  spring,  at  times  sold  for  $1  a  barrel. 

The  importance  of  this  water  supply  appears  to  have 
been  appreciated  early  by  the  long-headed  directing  body  of 
the  Mormon  Church.  Early  in  1877,  under  direction  of 
John  W.  Young,  son  and  one  of  the  counselors  of  Brigham 
Young,  from  the  Little  Colorado  settlements  of  St.  Joseph 
and  Sunset,  was  sent  an  expedition  that  included  Alma 
Iverson,  John  L.  Blythe  and  Jos.  W.  McMurrin,  the  last 
at  this  writing  president  of  the  California  Mission  of  the 
Church,  then  a  boy  of  18. 

According  to  Ammon  M.  Tenney,  this  LeRoux  spring 
was  known  to  the  people  of  the  Little  Colorado  settlements 
as  San  Francisco  spring.  Mr.  McMurrin  personally  states 
his  remembrance  that  the  expedition  proceeded  along  the 

152 


Beale  trail  to  the  spring,  near  which  was  built  a  small  log 
cabin,  designed  to  give  a  degree  of  title  to  the  water  and 
to  the  locality,  probably  also  to  serve  as  a  shelter  for  any 
missionary  parties  that  might  travel  the  road.  There  is  no 
information  that  it  was  used  later  for  any  purpose. 

The  men  were  instructed  to  build  a  cabin  at  Turkey 
Tanks,  on  the  road  to  the  Peaks,  this  cabin  to  be  lined  with 
pine  needles  and  to  be  used  as  a  storage  icehouse.  Coun- 
selor Young  expressing  the  opinion  that  there  would  be 
times  in  the  summer  heat  of  the  Little  Colorado  Valley  when 
ice  would  be  of  the  greatest  value.  The  tanks  were  hardly 
suitable  for  this  purpose,  however,  and  the  icehouse  was 
not  built. 

Location  of  the  LeRoux  spring  by  the  Iverson-Blythe 
party  in  1877  appears  to  have  been  sufficient  to  hold  the 
ground  till  it  was  needed,  in  1881,  by  John  W.  Young,  in 
connection  with  his  railroad  work.  About  sixty  graders 
and  tie  cutters  were  camped,  mainly  in  tents,  on  LeRoux 
Prairie  or  Flat,  below  the  spring,  according  to  Mrs.  W.  J. 
Murphy,  now  of  Phoenix,  a  resident  of  the  Prairie  for  five 
months  of  1881,  her  husband  a  contractor  on  the  new 
railroad.  She  remembers  no  cattle,  though  deer  and  ante- 
lope were  abundant. 

Stockaded  Against  the  Indians 

In  the  early  spring  came  reports  of  Indian  raids  to  the 
eastward.  So  Young  hauled  in  a  number  of  double-length 
ties,  which  he  set  on  end,  making  a  stockade,  within  which 
he  placed  his  camp,  mainly  of  tents.  Later  were  brush 
shelters  within,  but  the  great  log  house,  illustrated  herein, 
was  not  built  until  afterward.  Thereafter  was  attached 
the  name  of  Fort  Moroni,  given  by  Young,  who  organized 
the  Moroni  Cattle  Company.  At  the  time  of  the  coming 
of  the  grade  to  Flagstaff,  Young  also  had  a  camp  in  the 
western  end  of  the  present  Flagstaff  townsite. 

Fort  Moroni  was  acquired  about  1883  by  the  Arizona 
Cattle    Company.      The   large   building   was   used  as  a 

153 


mess  house.  The  stockade  ties  were  cut  down  to  fence 
height  and  eventually  disappeared,  used  by  the  cowboys 
for  fuel. 

An  entertaining  sidelight  on  the  settlement  of  what 
later  generally  was  known  as  Fort  Valley  has  been  thrown 
by  Earl  R.  Forrest  of  Washington,  Penn.,  in  early  days  a 
cowboy  for  the  Arizona  Cattle  Company.  He  writes  that 
the  building  formed  one  side  of  a  100-foot  square,  with 
the  stockade  on  the  other  three  sides.  In  his  day,  the  name 
of  the  ranch  was  changed  to  Fort  Rickerson,  in  honor  of 
Chas.  L.  Rickerson,  treasurer  of  the  company.  Capt. 
F.  B.  Bull  winkle,  the  manager,  a  former  Chief  of  the 
Chicago  Fire  Department,  and  a  lover  of  fast  stock,  was 
killed  near  Flagstaff,  thrown  from  a  stumbling  horse  while 
racing  for  the  railroad  station.  Thereafter  the  property 
passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Babbitt  Brothers  of 
Flagstaff.    The  old  building  was  torn  down  late  in  1920. 

In  August,  1908,  the  first  forest  experiment  station 
in  the  United  States  was  established  in  Fort  Valley. 

The  great  spring  is  used  only  for  watering  cattle,  and 
the  spring  at  Flagstaff  appears  to  have  been  lost  in  the 
spread  of  civilization. 

LeRoux  spring  was  named  for  Antoine  LeRoux,  prin- 
cipal guide  of  the  famous  survey  expedition  of  Lieut.  A.  W. 
Whipple,  along  the  35th  parallel,  in  1853.  Incidentally, 
this  is  the  same  LeRoux  who  was  principal  guide  of  the 
Mormon  Battalion. 

Mormon  Dairy  and  the  Mount  Trumbull  Mill 

Mormon  Mountain,  Mormon  Lake  and  Mormon  Dairy 
still  are  known  as  such,  28  miles  southeast  of  Flagstaff. 
The  Dairy  was  established  in  September,  1878,  by  Lot 
Smith,  in  what  then  was  known  as  Pleasant  Valley,  in  the 
pines,  sixty  miles  west  of  Sunset.  In  that  year  48  men 
and  41  women  from  Sunset  and  Brigham  City,  were  at  the 
Dairy,  caring  for  115  cows  and  making  butter  and  cheese. 
Three  good  log  houses  had  been  built. 

154 


Seven  miles  south  of  Pleasant  Valley  (which  should  not 
be  confounded  with  the  Tonto  Basin  Pleasant  Valley  of 
sanguinary  repute),  was  the  site  of  the  first  sawmill  on  the 
MogoUon  Plateau,  upon  which  a  half-dozen  very  large  plants 
now  operate  to  furnish  lumber  to  the  entire  Southwest. 
This  mill,  probably  antedated  in  northern  Arizona  only  at 
Prescott,  first  was  erected,  about  1870,  at  Mount  Trum- 
bull, in  the  Uinkaret  Mountains  of  northwestern  Arizona, 
to  cut  lumber  for  the  new  temple  at  St.  George,  Utah, 
fifty  miles  to  the  northward.  This  mill,  in  1876,  was  given 
by  the  Church  authorities  to  the  struggling  Little  Colo- 
rado River  settlements.  Taken  down  in  August  by  the  head 
sawyer,  Warren  R.  Tenney,  it  was  hauled  into  Sunset  late 
in  September  and  soon  was  re-erected  by  Tenney,  and, 
November  7,  put  into  operation  in  the  pine  woods  near 
Mormon  Lake,  about  sixty  miles  southwest  of  Sunset,  soon 
turning  out  100,000  feet  of  boards.  Its  site  was  named 
Millville.  The  mill,  after  the  decHne  of  the  first  settlements, 
passed  into  the  possession  of  W.  J.  Flake.  In  the  summer 
of  1882,  it  was  transferred  to  Pinedale  and  in  1890  to 
Pinetop.  It  now  is  at  Lakeside,  where,  it  is  assumed,  at 
least  part  of  the  original  machinery  still  is  being  oper- 
ated. Its  first  work  at  Pinetop  was  to  saw  the  timbers 
for  a  large  assembly  hall,  or  pavilion,  to  be  used  for  the 
only  conference  ever  held  that  included  all  the  Arizona 
Stakes. 

Also  in  the  timber  country  are  to  be  noted  Wilford, 
named  in  honor  of  President  Wilford  Woodruff,  and  Heber, 
named  for  Heber  C.  Kimball,  small  settlements  fifty  miles 
southwest  of  St.  Joseph,  established  in  1883  from  St. 
Joseph  and  other  Little  Colorado  settlements,  for  stock 
raising  and  dry  farming.  John  Bushman  is  believed  to 
have  been  the  first  Mormon  resident  of  the  locality.  Log 
houses  were  built  and  at  Wilford  was  a  schoolhouse,  which 
later  was  moved  to  St.  Joseph,  there  used  as  a  dwelUng. 
When  a  number  of  the  brethren  went  into  Mexican  exile, 

155 


their  holdings  were  ''jumped"  by  outsiders.    Wilford  has 
been  entirely  vacated,  but  Heber  still  has  residents. 

Where  Salt  Was  Secured 

Salt  for  the  early  settlements  of  northern  Arizona  very 
generally  was  secured  from  the  salt  lake  of  the  Zuni,  just 
east  of  the  New  Mexican  line,  roughly  33  miles  from  St. 
Johns.  As  early  as  1865,  Sol  Barth  brought  salt  on  pack 
mules  from  this  lake  to  points  as  far  westward  as  Prescott. 
In  the  records  of  a  number  of  the  Little  Colorado  settle- 
ments are  found  references  to  where  the  brethren  visited 
a  salt  lake  and  came  back  with  as  much  as  two  tons  at  a 
load.  This  lake  is  of  sacred  character  to  the  Zuni,  which 
at  certain  times  of  the  year  send  parties  of  priests  and 
warriors  to  the  lake,  45  miles  south  of  the  tribal  village. 
There  is  elaborate  ceremonial  before  salt  is  collected.  Un- 
doubtedly the  lake  was  known  to  prehistoric  peoples,  for 
salt,  probably  obtained  at  this  point,  has  been  found  in 
cliff  ruins  in  southern  Colorado,  200  miles  from  the  source 
of  supply.  The  Zuni  even  had  a  special  goddess,  Mawe, 
genius  of  the  sacred  salt  lake,  or  "Salt  Mother,"  to  whom 
offerings  were  made  at  the  lake.  Warren  K.  Follett,  in  1878, 
told  that  the  lake  lies  300  feet  lower  than  the  general  sur- 
face of  the  country.  The  salt  forms  within  the  water,  in 
layers  of  from  three  to  four  inches  thick,  and  is  of  remark- 
able purity. 

The  Hopi  secured  salt  from  a  ledge  in  the  Grand  Canyon, 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Colorado,  about  eighty  miles 
northwest  of  their  villages.  At  the  point  of  mining,  sacrifices 
were  made  before  shrines  of  a  goddess  of  salt  and  a  god  of 
war.  The  place  has  had  description  by  Dr.  Geo.  Wharton 
James,  whose  knowledge  of  the  gorge  is  most  comprehen- 
sive. 

On  the  upper  Verde  and  in  Tonto  Creek  Valley  are  salt 
deposits,  though  very  impure.  Upper  Salt  River  has  a 
small  deposit  of  very  good  sodium  chloride,  which  was  mined 
mainly  for  the  mills  of  Globe,  in  the  seventies.    The  Verde 

156 


ORIGINAL  FORT  MORONI  WITH  ITS  STOCKADE 


FORT  MORONI  IN  LATER  YEARS 


deposit  now  is  being  mined  for  shipment  to  paper  mills  of 
its  sodium  sulphate.  Reference  elsewhere  is  made  to  the 
salt  mines  of  the  Virgin  River  Valley. 

The  Mission  Post  of  Moen  Copie 

One  of  the  most  interesting  early  locations  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church  in  Arizona  was  that  of  Moen  Copie,  about  75 
miles  southeast  of  Lee's  Ferry.  The  name  is  a  Hopi  one, 
signifying  ''running  water"  or  "many  springs.''  The  soil 
is  alkaline,  but  it  is  a  place  where  Indians  had  raised  crops 
for  generations.  The  presiding  spirit  of  the  locality  was 
Tuba,  the  Oraibi  chief,  who  had  been  taken  by  Jacob 
Hamblin  to  Utah,  there  to  learn  something  of  the  white 
man's  civilization. 

Joseph  Fish  wrote  that  at  an  early  date  Moen  Copie  was 
selected  as  a  missionary  post  by  Jacob  Hamblin  and  Andrew 
S.  Gibbons  and  that  in  1871  and  1872,  John  L.  Blythe  and 
family  were  at  that  point. 

Permanent  settlement  on  Moen  Copie  Creek  was  made 
December  4,  1875,  by  a  party  headed  by  Jas.  S.  Brown. 
There  was  establishment  of  winter  quarters,  centering  in  a 
stone  house  40x20  feet,  with  walls  twenty  inches  thick. 
The  house  was  on  the  edge  of  a  cUff,  with  two  rows  of  log 
houses  forming  three  sides  of  a  square. 

Indians  Who  Knew  Whose  Ox  Was  Gored 

The  Author  is  pleased  to  present  here  a  tale  of  Indian 
craft,  delightfully  told  him  by  Mrs.  Elvira  Martineau 
(Benj.  S.)  Johnson,  who,  in  1876,  accompanied  her  husband 
to  Moen  Copie,  where  he  had  been  sent  as  a  missionary. 
July  4  the  women  had  just  prepared  a  holiday  feast  when 
Indians  were  seen  approaching.  The  men  were  summoned 
from  the  fields  below  the  cliff.  Leading  the  Indians  was  a 
Navajo,  Peicon,  who,  addressing  Brown  as  a  brother  chief- 
tain, thrust  forward  his  young  son,  dramatically  stating 
that  the  lad  had  killed  three  cows  owned  at  the  settlement 
of  Sunset  and  offering  him  for  any  punishment  the  whites 

157 


might  see  fit  to  inflict,  even  though  it  be  death.  Brown 
mildly  suggested  that  the  Sunset  people  should  be  seen,  but 
that  he  was  sure  that  all  they  would  ask  would  be  the  value 
of  the  animals.  During  the  protracted  argument  a  party 
of  accompanying  Utes  came  into  the  discussion,  threaten- 
ing individuals  with  their  bows  and  arrows.  The  Navajos 
were  fed  and  then  was  developed  the  truth.  It  was  that  the 
men  of  Sunset  had  killed  three  Indian  cattle  and  the  wily 
chief  had  been  trying  to  get  Brown  to  fix  a  drastic  penalty 
upon  his  own  people.  Brown  went  with  the  Navajos  to 
Sunset,  there  to  learn  that  the  half-starved  colonists  had 
killed  three  range  animals,  assumed  to  have  been  owner- 
less. The  matter  then  was  adjusted  with  little  trouble  and 
to  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  redskins. 

In  September,  1878,  Erastus  Snow  visited  Moen  Copie, 
where  the  inhabitants  comprised  nine  families,  with  especial 
mention  of  Andrew  S.  Gibbons,  of  the  party  of  John  W. 
Young  and  of  Tuba.  There  had  been  a  prosperous  season 
in  a  farming  way. 

This  visit  is  notable  from  the  fact  that  on  the  17th, 
Snow  and  others  proceeded  about  two  miles  west  of  north 
and  at  Musha  Springs  located  a  townsite,  afterward  named 
Tuba  City.  Tuba  City  was  visited  in  1900  by  Andrew 
Jenson,  who  found  twenty  families  resident,  with  one  fam- 
ily at  the  old  Moen  Copie  mission  and  three  families  at 
Moen  Abi,  seven  miles  to  the  southwest. 

A  Woolen  Factory  in  the  Wilds 

Primarily  the  Tuba  settlement  was  a  missionary  effort, 
with  the  intention  of  taking  the  Gospel  into  the  very  center 
of  the  Navajo  and  Hopi  country.  Agriculture  flourished  a 
all  times,  with  an  abundant  supply  of  water  for  irrigation- 
But  there  was  an  attempt  at  industry  and  one  which  would 
appear  to  have  had  the  very  best  chance  of  success.  The 
Navajo  and  Hopi  alike  are  owners  of  immense  numbers  of 
sheep.  The  wool  in  early  days  almost  entirely  was  utilized 
by  the  Indians  in  the  making  of  blankets,  this  on  rude  hand 

158 


looms,  where  the  product  was  turned  out  with  a  maximum 
of  labor  and  of  time.  John  W.  Young,  elsewhere  referred 
to  in  connection  with  the  establishment  of  Fort 
Moroni  and  with  the  building  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
railroad,  thought  he  saw  an  opportunity  to  benefit  the 
Indians  and  the  Church,  and  probably  himself,  so  at  Tuba 
City,  in  the  spring  of  1879,  he  commenced  erection  of  a  wool- 
en factory,  with  interior  dimensions  90x70  feet.  The  plant 
was  finished  in  November,  with  192  spindles  in  use.  In  the 
spring  of  1880  was  a  report  in  the  Deseret  News  that  the 
manufacture  of  yarns  had  commenced  and  that  the  ma- 
chinery was  running  hke  a  charm.  Looms  for  the  cloth-mak- 
ing were  reported  on  the  way.  Just  how  labor  was  secured 
is  not  known,  but  it  is  probable  that  Indians  were  utilized 
to  as  large  an  extent  as  possible.  There  is  no  available 
record  concerning  the  length  of  time  this  mill  was  operated. 
It  is  understood,  however,  that  the  Indians  soon  lost  in- 
terest in  it  and  failed  to  bring  in  wool.  Possibly  the  labor 
supply  was  not  ample  and  possibly  the  distance  to  the  Utah 
settlements  was  too  great  and  the  journey  too  rough  to 
secure  profit.  At  any  event,  the  factory  closed  without 
revolutionizing  the  Navajo  and  Hopi  woolen  industry.  In 
1900  was  written  that  the  factory  "has  most  literally  been 
carried  away  by  Indians,  travelers  and  others."  Old  Chief 
Tuba  took  particular  pride  in  watching  over  the  remains 
of  the  factory,  but  after  his  death  the  ruination  of  the  build- 
ing was  made  complete.  Some  of  the  machinery  was  taken 
to  St.  Johns. 

Lot  Smith  and  His  End 

In  general  the  Saints  at  Tuba  appear  to  have  lived  at 
peace  with  their  Indian  neighbors,  save  in  1892  when  Lot 
Smith  was  killed.  The  simple  tale  of  the  tragedy  is  in  a 
Church  record  that  follows : 

On  Monday,  June  20,  1892,  some  Indians  at  Tuba  City  turned 
their  sheep  into  Lot  Smith's  pasture.  Brother  Smith  went  out  to 
drive  the  sheep  away,  and  while  thus  engaged  he  got  into  a  quarrel 

159 


with  the  Indians  and  commenced  shooting  their  sheep.  In  retalia- 
tion the  Indians  commenced  firing  upon  Lot  Smith's  cows  and  finally 
directed  their  fire  against  Lot  Smith  himself,  shooting  him  through  the 
body.  Though  mortally  wounded,  he  rode  home,  a  distance  of  about 
two  miles,  and  lived  about  six  hours,  when  he  expired.  It  is  stated 
on  good  authority  that  the  Indians  were  very  sorry,  as  Smith  always 
had  been  a  friend  to  them. 

The  Author  here  might  be  permitted  to  make  reference 
to  the  impression  generally  held  in  the  Southwest  that  Lot 
Smith  was  a  "killer/*  a  man  of  violence,  who  died  as  he  had 
lived.  Close  study  of  his  record  fails  to  bear  out  this  view. 
Undoubtedly  it  started  in  Utah  after  his  return  from  Mor- 
mon Battalion  service,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Mormon  militia  that  harassed  Johnston*s  army  in  the 
passes  east  of  the  Salt  Lake  Valley.  There  is  solemn  Church 
assurance  that  not  a  life  was  taken  in  this  foray,  though 
many  wagons  were  burned  in  an  attempt,  October  3,  1857, 
to  delay  the  march  of  the  troops.  Smith  (who  in  no  wise 
was  related  to  the  family  of  the  Prophet  Joseph)  became 
a  leader  in  the  Deseret  defense  forces,  but  there  is  belief 
that  in  all  his  life  he  shed  no  blood,  unless  it  was  in  con- 
nection with  a  battle  with  the  Utes  near  Provo,  in  February, 
1850.  In  this  fight  were  used  brass  cannon,  probably  those 
that  had  been  bought  at  Sutter's  Fort  by  returning  Mormon 
Battalion  members.  According  to  a  friendly  biographer, 
"There  never  was  a  man  who  held  the  life  and  liberty  of 
man  more  sacred  than  did  Lot  Smith."  Ten  years  after  his 
death  there  was  re-interment  of  his  remains  at  Farmington, 
Utah. 

Moen  Copie  Reverts  to  the  Indians 

In  1900  Moen  Copie  ward  embraced  21  families  and 
about  150  souls.  There  had  been  an  extension  of  the  Navajo 
reservation  westward  and  the  Indians,  though  friendly, 
had  been  advised  to  crowd  the  Mormons  out,  on  the  ground 
that  the  country  in  reality  belonged  to  the  aborigines. 
There  was  no  title  to  the  land,  which  had  not  been  sur- 
veyed and  which  was  held  only  by  squatter  rights.    There 

160 


had  been  some  success  in  a  missionary  way,  but  conditions 
arose  which  made  it  appear  best  that  the  land  be  vacated 
to  the  Indians.  There  was  much  negotiation  and  at  the 
end  there  was  payment  by  the  government  of  $45,000, 
this  divided  among  the  whites  according  to  the  value  of 
their  improvements  and  acreage. 

In  this  wise  the  Mormon  settlement  of  Tuba  City  was 
vacated  in  February,  1903,  the  inhabitants  moving  to  other 
parts  of  Arizona  and  to  Utah  and  Idaho.  A  large  reservation 
school  has  been  established  on  the  Wash,  many  Indians 
there  being  instructed  in  the  arts  of  the  white  man,  while 
government  farmers  are  utilizing  the  waters  of  the  stream 
and  of  the  springs  in  the  cultivation  of  a  considerable 
acreage.  A  feature  of  this  school  is  that  fuel  is  secured,  at 
very  slight  cost,  from  coal  measures  nearby. 

Woodruff  and  Its  Water  Troubles 

Closely  following  settlement  of  the  ephemeral  lower  ^ 
Little  Colorado  towns  came  the  founding  of  Woodruff, 
about  25  miles  upstream  from  St.  Joseph  and  about  twelve 
miles  above  the  present  Holbrook.  It  is  still  a  prosperous 
town  and  community,  though  its  history  has  been  one  in 
which  disaster  has  come  repeatedly  through  the  washing 
away  of  the  dam  which  supplies  its  main  canal  with  water 
from  the  Little  Colorado  and  Silver  Creek. 

In  the  locality  the  Mormons  were  antedated  by  Luther 
Martin  and  FeUx  Scott.  The  section  was  scouted  in  De- 
cember, 1876,  by  Joseph  H.  Richards,  Lewis  P.  Cardon, 
James  Thurman  and  Peter  O.  Peterson,  from  Allen's  Camp, 
and  they  participated  in  starting  a  ditch  from  the  river. 
There  appeared  to  have  been  no  indication  of  occupancy 
when,  in  March,  1877,  Ammon  M.  Tenney  passed  through 
the  valley  and  determined  it  a  good  place  for  location.  In 
the  following  month,  however,  Cardon  and  two  sons,  and 
Wm.  A.  Walker  came  upon  the  ground,  with  other  families, 
followed,  three  weeks  later,  by  Nathan  C.  Tenney,  father 
of  Ammon  M.,  with  two  sons,  John  T.  and  Samuel,  Hans 

161 


Gulbrandsen  and  Charles  Riggs.  For  about  a  year  the 
settlement  was  known  simply  as  Tenney's  Camp.  L.  H. 
Hatch  was  appointed  to  take  charge  in  February,  1878. 
About  that  time  the  name  of  Woodruff  was  adopted,  in 
honor  of  President  Wilford  Woodruff,  this  suggestion  made 
by  John  W.  Young.  The  first  settlement  was  in  a  rock 
and  adobe  fort,  forming  a  half  square.  There  was  a  common 
dining  room  as,  for  a  while,  there  was  adherence  to  the 
system  of  the  United  Order.  It  is  told  that  all  save  two  of 
the  settlers  participated  and  there  is  memorandum  of  how 
three  sisters  were  detailed  weekly  for  cooking,  with  girls 
as  assistants. 

In  February,  1882,  was  survey  of  the  present  townsite, 
on  which  John  Reidhead  built  the  first  house.  This  town- 
site  was  purchased  from  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  in  May,  1889,  for  $8  an  acre.  At  first  it  had  not 
been  appreciated  that  the  town  had  not  been  built  upon 
government  land. 

The  history  of  Woodruff  has  in  it  much  of  disastrous 
incident  through  the  frequent  breaking  of  the  river  dams. 
In  May,  1880,  the  dam  had  to  be  cut  by  the  settlers  them- 
selves, in  order  to  permit  the  water  to  flow  down  to  St. 
Joseph,  w^here  there  was  priority  of  appropriation.  At 
several  times,  the  Church  organization  helped  in  the  repair 
or  building  of  the  many  dams,  after  the  settlers  had  spent 
everything  they  had  and  had  reached  the  point  of  despair. 
At  suggestion  of  Jesse  N.  Smith  in  1884,  all  the  brethren  in 
the  Stake  were  called  upon  to  donate  one  day  each  of 
labor  on  the  Woodruff  dam.  Up  to  1890,  the  dam  had  been 
washed  out  seven  times  and  even  now  there  is  trouble  in  its 
maintenance. 

Of  passing  interest  is  the  fact  that  President  Wilford 
Woodruff,  after  whom  the  settlement  was  named,  was  a 
visitor  to  Woodruff  on  at  least  two  occasions,  in  1879,  and 
in  1887,  when  an  exile  from  Utah.  He  was  at  Moen  Copie 
when  there  came  news,  which  later  proved  erroneous,  that 

162 


pursuers  had  crossed  at  Lee*s  Ferry.  Then,  guided  by 
Richard  Gibbons,  he  rode  westward,  making  a  stop  of  a 
few  days  at  Fort  Moroni. 

Holbrook  Once  Was  Horsehead  Crossing 

Holbrook,  on  the  Little  Colorado,  county  seat  of  Navajo 
County,  shipping  point  on  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  system  for 
practically  all  of  Navajo  and  Apache  Counties,  had  Mor- 
mon inception,  under  its  present  name,  that  of  an  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  railroad  locating  engineer,  F.  A.  Holbrook.  The 
christening  is  said  to  have  been  done  in  1881  by  John  W. 
Young,  then  a  grading  contractor,  applied  to  a  location  two 
miles  east  of  the  present  townsite.  Young  there  had  a  store 
at  his  headquarters.  Later  the  railroad  authorities  estab- 
lished the  town  on  its  present  location. 

The  settlement,  since  the  first  coming  of  English-speak- 
ing folk,  had  been  known  as  Horsehead  Crossing.  For  years 
before  the  railroad  came,  a  roadside  station  was  kept  at 
the  Crossing  by  a  Mexican,  Berardo,  whose  name  was  dif- 
ferently spelled  by  almost  every  traveler  who  wrote  of  him. 
One  of  the  tales  is  from  E.  C.  Bunch,  who  came  as  a  young 
member  of  the  Arkansas  immigration  in  1876,  and  who 
later  became  one  of  the  leaders  in  Arizona  education.  He 
tells,  in  referring  appreciatively  to  Mexican  hospitality, 
that  ''Berrando's"  sign,  painted  by  an  American,  read, 
"If  you  have  the  money,  you  can  eat."  But  the  owner, 
feeling  the  misery  coldheartedness  might  create,  wrote 
below,  "No  got  a  money,  eat  anyway.'*  Berardo  loaned 
the  colonists  some  cows,  whose  milk  was  most  welcome. 


163 


Chapter  Fifleen 


Snowflake  and  its  Naming 

Snowflake,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  towns  of  Mor- 
mon origin,  lies  28  miles  almost  south  of  Holbrook,  with 
which  it  was  given  railroad  connection  during  1919.  The 
first  settler  was  James  Stinson  who  came  in  1873,  and  who, 
by  1878,  had  taken  out  the  waters  of  Silver  Creek  for  the 
irrigation  of  about  300  acres.  In  July,  1878,  Stinson  (later 
a  resident  of  Tempe)  sold  to  Wm.  J.  Flake  for  $11,000,  paid 
in  livestock. 

July  21,  the  first  Mormons  moved  upon  the  Stinson 
place.  They  were  Flake,  James  Gale,  Jesse  Brady,  Alex- 
ander Stewart  and  Thomas  West,  with  their  families,  most 
of  them  from  the  old  Taylor  settlement.  Others  followed 
soon  thereafter,  including  six  Taylor  families,  headed  by 
John  Kartchner,  they  taking  the  upper  end  of  the  valley. 

Actual  foundation  of  the  town  came  in  an  incident  of 
the  most  memorable  of  the  southwestern  trips  of  Erastus 
Snow.  He  and  his  party  arrived  at  the  Kartchner  ranch 
September  26,  1878,  the  location  described  by  L.  John 
Nuttall  of  the  party  as  "a  nice  little  valley."  As  bishop 
was  appointed  John  Hunt  of  Savoia,  who  was  with  the 
Mormon  Battalion,  and  who  remained  in  the  same 
capacity  till  1910.  Flake's  location  was  considered  best  for 
a  townsite  and  to  it  was  given  the  name  it  now  bears, 
honoring  the  visiting  dignitary  and  the  founder.  The  town- 
site  was  surveyed  soon  thereafter  by  Samuel  G.  Ladd  of 
St.  Joseph,  who  also  laid  out  several  ditch  lines.  Even 
before  there  was  a  town,  there  was  a  birth,  that  of  William 
Taylor  Gale,  son  of  James  Gale. 

164 


c 


ERASTUS  SNOW 
In  Charge  of  Pioneer  Arizona  Colonization 


J 

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if    '^^>«B^IME 

^ 

H;'3 

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w 

January  16,  1879,  arrived  Jesse  N.  Smith,  president  of 
the  newly-created  Eastern  Arizona  Stake,  appointed  on 
recommendation  of  Erastus  Snow.  After  trying  to  nego- 
tiate for  land  at  St.  Johns,  he  returned,  and  he  and  his 
company  concluded  to  locate  in  Snowflake,  where  they  took 
up  lots  not  already  appropriated.  The  farming  land  went 
in  a  drawing  of  two  parcels  each  to  the  city  lot  owners, 
who  thus  became  possessed  of  twenty  acres  each.  Joseph 
Fish  headed  a  committee  on  distribution,  which  valued 
each  city  lot  at  S30,  each  first-class  farming  plot  of  ten 
acres  at  $110  and  each  second-class  plot  at  S60,  giving 
each  shareholder  property  valued  at  $200,  or  ten  head  of 
stock,  this  being  at  the  rate  that  Flake  paid  for  the  whole 
property.    Flake  took  only  one  share. 

The  Mormon  towns  usually  were  of  the  quietest,  but 
occasionally  had  excitement  brought  to  them.  On  one  such 
occasion  at  Snowflake,  December  8,  1892,  was  killed  Chas. 
L.  Flake,  son  of  Wm.  J.  Flake.  A  message  had  come  from 
New  Mexico  asking  detention  of  Will  Mason,  a  desperado 
said  to  have  had  a  record  of  seven  murders.  Charles  and 
his  brother,  Jas.  M.,  attempted  the  arrest.  Mason  fired 
twdce  over  his  shoulder,  the  first  bullet  cutting  James* 
left  ear,  and  then  shot  Charles  through  the  neck.  Almost 
the  same  moment  a  bullet  from  James'  pistol  passed 
through  the  murderer's  head,  followed  by  a  second. 

Of  modern  interest,  indicative  of  the  trend  of  public 
sentiment,  is  an  agreement,  entered  into  late  in  1920,  by 
the  merchants  of  Snowflake  and  the  towns  to  the  south- 
ward, to  sell  no  tobacco,  in  any  form. 

Snowflake  was  the  first  county-seat  of  Apache  County, 
created  in  1879,  the  first  court  session  held  in  the  home  of 
Wm.  J.  Flake.  At  the  fall  election,  the  courthouse  was 
moved  to  St.  Johns.  In  1880,  by  the  vote  of  Clifton,  which 
then  was  within  Apache  County,  Springerville  was  made 
the  county  seat.  In  1882,  St.  Johns  finally  was  chosen  the 
seat  of  Apache  County  government. 

165 


Joseph  Fish«  Historian 

The  first  consecutive  history  of  Arizona,  intended  to  be 
complete  in  its  narration,  undoubtedly  was  that  written  by 
Joseph  Fish,  for  many  years  resident  in  or  near  Snowflake. 
Though  Mr.  Fish  is  a  patriarch  of  the  Mormon  Church, 
his  narration  of  events  is  entirely  uncolored,  unless  by 
sympathy  for  the  Indians.  His  work  never  had  publication, 
a  fact  to  be  deplored.  A  copy  of  his  manuscript  is  in  the 
office  of  the  State  Historian,  and  another  is  possessed  by 
Dr.  J.  A.  Munk,  held  by  him  in  his  library  of  Arizoniana 
in  the  Southwestern  Museum  at  Garvanza,  Cal. 

The  history  has  about  700  pages  of  typewritten  matter, 
treating  of  events  down  to  a  comparatively  late  date.  Mr. 
Fish  has  a  clear  and  lucid  style  of  narration  and  his  work 
is  both  interesting  and  valuable.  Though  of  no  large 
means,  he  gathered,  at  his  home  on  the  Little  Colorado, 
about  400  books  and  magazines,  and  upon  this  basis  and 
by  personal  interviews  and  correspondence  he  secured  the 
data  upon  which  he  wrote.  He  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  of 
Yankee  stock,  and  is  now  in  his  eightieth  year.  He  came  to 
Arizona  in  1879  and  the  next  year  was  in  charge  of  the 
commissary  department  for  the  contract  of  John  W.  Young 
in  the  building  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  railroad.  His 
first  historical  work  was  done  as  clerk  of  the  Eastern 
Arizona  Stake.  In  1902  he  began  work  on  another  his- 
torical volume,  "The  Pioneers  of  the  Rocky  Mountains." 
He  now  is  resident  in  Enterprise,  Utah. 

Another  historic  character  resident  in  the  Stake  was 
Ralph  Ramsey,  the  artist  in  wood  who  carved  the  eagle 
that  overspreads  the  Eagle  gate  in  Salt  Lake  City. 

Taylor,  Second  of  the  Name 

Taylor,  the  second  settlement  of  the  name  in  the  Mor- 
mon northeastern  occupation,  lies  thiee  miles  south  of 
Snowflake  (which  it  antedates).  It  is  on  Silver  Creek, 
which  is  spanned  by  a  remarkable  suspension  bridge  that 
connects  two  sections  of  the  town.   When  the  first  Mormon 

166 


residents  came,  early  in  1878  the  settlement  was  known  as 
Bagley.  Then  there  was  to  be  change  to  Walker,  but  the 
Postofl5ce  Department  objected,  as  another  Walker  ex- 
isted, near  Prescott.  The  present  name,  honoring  John 
Taylor,  president  of  the  Church,  was  adopted  in  1881,  at 
the  suggestion  of  Stake  President  Jesse  N.  Smith. 

The  first  settler  was  James  Pearce,  a  noted  character  in 
southwestern  annals,  son  of  the  founder  of  Pearce's  Ferry 
across  the  Colorado  at  the  mouth  of  Grand  Wash,  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  Grand  Canyon.  James  Pearee  was  a  pio- 
neer missionary  with  Jacob  Hamblin  among  the  Paiutes 
of  the  Nevada  Muddy  region  and  the  Hopi  and  Navajo  of 
northeastern  Aiizona.  He  came  January  23,  1878,  in  March 
joined  by  John  H.  Standiford.  Other  early  arrivals  were 
Jos.  C.  Kay,  Jesse  H.  and  Wm.  A.  Walker,  Lorenzo  Hatch, 
an  early  missionary  to  the  northeastern  Arizona  Indians, 
Noah  Brimhall  and  Daniel  Bagley.  A  ditch  was  surveyed 
by  Major  Ladd,  who  did  most  of  such  work  for  all  the 
settlements,  but  the  townsite,  established  in  1878,  on  the 
recommendation,  in  September,  of  Erastus  Snow,  was 
surveyed  in  December  by  a  group  of  interested  residents, 
led  by  Jos.  S.  Cardon,  their  ''chain"  being  a  rope.  The 
irrigation  troubles  of  the  community  appear  to  have  been 
fewer  than  those  of  the  Little  Colorado  towns,  though  in 
the  great  spring  flood  of  1890  the  dams  and  bridges  along 
Silver  Creek  were  carried  away. 

Shumway's  Historic  Founder 

Shumway,  on  Silver  Creek,  five  miles  above  Taylor,  has 
interest  of  historical  sort  in  the  fact  that  it  was  named 
after  an  early  settler  Charles  Shumway,  one  of  the  most 
noted  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  Church.  He  was  the  first 
to  cross  the  Mississippi,  February  4,  1846,  in  the  exodus 
from  Nauvoo,  and  was  one  of  the  143  Pioneers  who  entered 
Salt  Lake  with  Brigham  Young  the  following  summer. 
In  December,  1879,  his  son,  Wilson  G.  Shumway,  accepted 
a  call  to  Arizona.    Most  of  the  winter  was  spent  at  Grand 

167 


Falls  in  a  "shack"  he  built  of  cottonwood  logs,  roofed 
with  sandstone  slabs.  In  this  he  entertained  Apostle  Wood- 
ruff, who  directed  the  chiseling  of  the  name  "Wilford 
Woodruff"  upon  a  rock.  Charles  Shumwa}^  and  N.  P.  Beebe 
bought  the  mill  rights  on  Silver  Creek,  acquired  through 
location  the  previous  year  by  Nathan  C.  and  Jesse  Wanslee, 
brought  machinery  from  the  East  and,  within  a  year, 
started  a  grist  mill  that  still  is  a  local  institution.  The 
village  of  Shumway  never  has  had  more  than  a  score  of 
families.  Charles  Shumway  died  May  21,  1898.  His  record 
of  self-sacrifice  continued  after  his  arrival  in  Arizona  early 
in  1880,  the  first  stop  being  at  Concho.  There,  according 
to  his  son,  Wilson  G.,  the  family  for  two  years  could  have 
been  rated  as  among  "the  poorest  of  poor  pioneers,"  with 
a  dugout  for  a  home,  this  later  succeeded  by  a  log  cabin  of 
comparative  luxury.  For  months  the  bread  was  of  barley 
flour,  the  diet  later  having  variety,  changed  to  corn  bread 
and  molasses,  with  wheat  flour  bread  as  a  treat  on  Sundays. 

Showlow  Won  in  a  Game  of  * 'Seven-Up" 

Showlow,  one  of  the  freak  Arizona  place  names,  applied 
to  a  creek  and  district,  as  well  as  to  a  thrifty  little  settle- 
ment, lies  about  south  of  Snowflake,  twenty  miles  or  more. 
The  name  antedates  the  Mormon  settlement.  The  valley 
jointly  was  held  by  C.  E.  Cooley  and  Marion  Clark,  both 
devoted  to  the  card  game  of  "seven-up."  At  a  critical 
period  of  one  of  their  games,  when  about  all  possible  prop- 
erty had  been  wagered,  Clark  exclaimed,  "Show  low  and 
you  take  the  ranch!"  Cooley  "showed  low."  This  same 
property  later  was  sold  by  him  to  W.  J.  Flake,  for  $13,000. 

The  Showlow  section  embraces  the  mountain  com- 
munities of  Showlow,  Reidhead  (Lone  Pine),  Pinedale, 
Linden,  Juniper,  Adair  (which  once  had  unhappy  designa- 
tion as  "Fools'  Hollow"),  Ellsworth,  Lakeside  (also  known 
as  Fairview  and  Woodland),  Pinetop  and  Cluff's  Cienega. 
Cooley,  in  the  Cienega  (Sp.,  marsh)  is  the  site^of  a  large 
sawmill  and  is  the  terminus  of  a  railroad  from  Holbrook. 

168 


But  the  noted  scout  Cooley,  lived  elsewhere,  at  Showlow 
and  at  Apache  Springs. 

The  first  Mormons  to  come  to  Showlow  were  Alfred 
Cluff  and  David  E.  Adams,  who  were  employed  by  Cooley 
in  1876.  They  were  from  Allen's  Camp,  almost  driven 
away  by  necessity.  Others  soon  came,  including  Aloses  and 
Orson  Cluff,  Edmund  Ellsworth  and  Edson  Whipple,  a 
Salt  Lake  Pioneer.  There  was  gradual  settlement  of  the 
communities  above  listed,  generally  prior  to  1880.  While 
only  one  member  of  the  faith  was  killed  during  the  Indian 
troubles  of  the  eighties,  log  and  stone  forts  were  erected  in 
several  of  the  villages  for  use  in  case  of  need. 

Mountain  Communities 

Out  in  the  woods,  twenty  miles  southwest  of  Snowflake, 
is  the  village  of  Pinedale,  settled  in  January,  1879,  by  Niels 
Mortensen  and  sons  and  Niels  Peterson.  The  first  location 
was  at  what  now  is  called  East  Pinedale,  also  known  at 
different  times  as  Mortensen  and  Percheron.  In  the  follow- 
ing winter,  a  small  sawmill  was  brought  in  from  Fort  Apache 
and  in  1882  came  a  larger  mill,  the  original  Mount  Trum- 
buU  mill.  In  that  year  a  townsite  had  rough  survey  by 
James  Huff  and  in  1885  a  schoolhouse  was  built.  The 
brethren  had  much  trouble  with  desperados,  horse  and 
cattle  thieves,  but  peace  came  after  the  Pleasant  Valley 
war  in  Tonto  Basin,  in  which  thirty  of  the  range  riders  were 
killed. 

Reidhead,  also  known  at  times  as  Woolfs  Ranch,  Lone 
Pine  Crossing,  Beaver  Branch  and  Reidhead  Crossing,  is 
one  of  the  deserted  points  of  early  settlement,  historically 
important  mainly  in  the  fact  that  it  was  the  home  of  Nathan 
B.  Robinson,  killed  nearby  by  Apaches  June  1,  1882.  Fear 
of  the  Indians  then  drove  away  the  other  settlers  and, 
though  there  was  later  return,  in  1893  was  final  abandon- 
ment. Reidhead  lay  on  Showlow  Creek,  ten  miles  above 
Taylor  and  ten  miles  from  Cooley's  ranch.  It  was  one  of 
the  places  of  first  white  settlement  in  northeastern  Arizona, 

169 


a  Mexican  having  had  his  ranch  there  even  before  Cooley 
came  into  the  country.  Then  came  one  Woolf,  from  whom 
squatter  rights  were  bought  in  April,  1878,  by  John  Reid- 
head,  then  lately  from  Utah. 

Pinetop,  35  miles  south  of  Snowflake,  dates  back  to 
March,  1888,  when  settled  by  Wm.  L.  Penrod  and  sons, 
including  four  families,  all  from  Provo,  Utah.  Progress 
started  with  the  transfer  to  Pinetop  of  the  Mount  Trum- 
bull mill  in  1890.  The  name  is  said  to  have  been  given  by 
soldiers,  the  first  designation  having  been  Penrod.  A 
notable  event  in  local  history  was  a  joint  conference  in 
Pinetop,  July  4,  1892,  with  representatives  from  all  Arizona 
Stakes  and  attended  by  President  Woodruff's  counselors, 
Geo.  Q.  Cannon  and  Jos.  F.  Smith.  For  this  special  occasion 
was  built  a  pavilion,  the  largest  in  Arizona,  a  notable  under- 
taking for  a  small  community.  The  structure  was  destroyed 
by  fire  a  few  years  ago. 

Forest  Dale  on  the  Reservation 

In  the  settlement  of  what  now  is  southern  Navajo 
County,  the  Mormon  settlers  a  bit  overran  the  present  line 
of  the  Apache  Indian  reservation,  where  they  located  early 
in  1878  upon  what  now  is  known  as  Forest  Dale  Creek,  a 
tributary  of  Carrizo  Creek.  The  country  is  a  beautiful  one, 
well  watered  from  abundant  rains  and  well  wooded,  possibly 
a  bit  more  favored  than  the  present  settlements  of  Showlow, 
Pinetop  and  Lakeside,  which  lie  just  north  of  the  reservation 
hne.  There  is  reference  in  a  letter  of  Llewellyn  Harris,  in 
July,  1878,  to  the  settlement  of  Forest  Dale,  but  the  name 
is  found  in  writings  several  months  before.  Harris  and 
several  others  refer  to  the  Little  Colorado  country  as  being 
in  "Aravapai"  County.  This  was  in  error.  The  county  then 
was  Yavapai,  before  the  separation  of  Apache  County. 

The  valley  was  found  by  Oscar  Cluff  while  hunting  in 
the  fall  of  1877  and  soon  thereafter  he  moved  there  with  his 
family.  In  February  there  followed  his  brother,  Alfred 
Cluff,  who  suggested  the  name.  The  settlement  was  started 

170 


February  18,  1878,  by  Jos.  H.  Frisby,  Merritt  Staley,  Oscar 
Mann,  Orson  and  Alfred  Cluff,  Ebenezer  Thayne,  David 
E.  Adams  and  a  few  others. 

The  overruning  referred  to  was  not  done  bUndly.  Jos. 
H.  Frisby  and  Alfred  Clujff  went  to  San  Carlos.  There  they 
were  assured  by  Agent  Hart  that  Apache  Springs  and  the 
creek  referred  to  were  not  on  the  reservation,  and  that  the 
government  would  protect  them  if  they  would  settle  there. 
It  was  understood  that  the  reservation  line  lay  about  three 
miles  south  of  the  settlement.  This  information  is  con- 
tained in  a  letter  signed  by  Agent  Hart  and  addressed  to 
Colonel  Andrews,  Eleventh  Infantry,  commanding  Fort 
Apache.  Mr.  Hart  stated  that  he  would  be  "glad  to  have 
the  settlers  make  permanent  homes  at  Forest  Dale,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Indians  strayed  so  far  from  their  own  lands 
that  it  was  hard  to  keep  track  of  them  as  conditions  then 
were,  and  that  the  settlement  of  the  country  would  have  a 
tendency  to  hold  the  Indians  on  their  own  lands  upon  the 
reservation." 

Lieutenant  Ray  was  sent  with  a  detachment  of  troops 
and  the  Indians  at  Apache  Springs  were  removed  and  the 
main  body  of  the  settlers,  then  temporarily  located  on  the 
Showlow,  moved  over  the  ridge  into  the  new  valley. 

In  March,  1878,  the  settlers  included  Merritt  Staley, 
Oscar  Mann,  Ebenezer  Thayne,  David  E.  Adams,  Jos.  H. 
Frisby,  Alfred  Cluff,  Isaac  Follett,  Orson  Cluff  and  several 
unmarried  men.  In  September,  Erastus  Snow  found  a  very 
prosperous  settlement.  A  ward  organization  was  estab- 
lished. The  first  white  child.  Forest  Dale  Adams,  is  now 
the  wife  of  Frank  Webster,  of  Central,  Arizona.  Seven 
springs  of  good  water,  known  as  Apache  Springs,  formed 
the  headwaters  of  Carrizo  Creek. 

In  1879,  Missionaries  Harris  and  Thayne  appear  to 
have  made  a  mistake  similar  to  that  of  the  Arab  who 
allowed  the  camel  to  thrust  his  nose  inside  of  the  tent. 
They  secured  permission  from  the  commanding  officer  of 

171 


Fort  Apache  to  allow  about  a  dozen  Indian  families  on  the 
creek.  The  missionary  efforts  appear  to  have  failed,  and 
the  Indians  simply  demanded  everything  in  sight.  Reports 
came  that  the  locality  really  was  on  the  reservation  and 
the  white  population  therefore  drifted  away,  mainly  into 
the  Gila  Valley.  In  December,  1879,  only  three  families 
were  left,  and  the  following  year  the  last  were  gone. 

In  1881  rumors  drifted  down  the  Little  Colorado  that 
Forest  Dale,  after  all,  was  not  on  the  reservation.  So 
William  Crookston  and  three  others  resettled  the  place, 
some  of  them  from  the  abandoned  Brigham  City.  Then 
came  the  Indian  troubles  of  1881-82.  When  Fort  Apache 
was  attacked,  the  families  consolidated  at  Cooley,  where 
they  built  a  fort.  Some  went  north  to  Snowflake  and 
Taylor.  In  December,  1881,  President  Jesse  N.  Smith  of 
the  Eastern  Arizona  Stake  advised  the  Forest  Dale  settlers 
to  satisfy  the  Indians  for  their  claims  on  the  place,  and 
received  assurance  from  Geneial  Carr  at  Fort  Apache,  that 
the  locality  most  likely  was  not  on  the  reservation  and  that, 
in  case  it  was  not,  he  would  be  pleased  to  have  the  Mormon 
settlers  there.  A  new  ward  was  established  and  William 
Ellsworth  and  twenty  more  families  moved  in,  mainly  from 
Brigham  City.  In  May,  1882,  the  Indians  came  again  to 
plant  corn  and  were  wrathful  to  find  the  whites  ahead  of 
them.  An  officer  was  sent  from  Fort  Apache  and  a  treaty 
was  made  by  which  the  Indians  were  given  thirty  acres 
of  planted  land. 

June  1,  1882,  Apaches  killed  Nathan  B.  Robinson  at 
the  Reidhead  place  and  shot  Emer  Plumb  at  Walnut 
Springs,  during  a  period  of  general  Indian  unrest.  Soon 
thereafter.  President  Smith  advised  the  settlers  that  they 
had  better  look  for  other  locations,  as  the  ground  was  on 
the  reservation. 

In  December,  Lieutenant  Gatewood,  under  orders  from 
Captain  Crawford  (names  afterward  famous  in  the  Ger- 
onimo  campaign  to  the  southward)  came  from  Fort  Apache 

172 


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SHUMWAY  AND  THE  OLD  MILL  ON  SILVER  CREEK 


and  advised  the  settlers  they  would  be  given  until  the  spring 
to  vacate.  The  crops  were  disposed  of  at  Fort  Apache  and 
the  spring  of  1883  found  Forest  Dale  deserted,  houses, 
fences,  corrals  and  every  improvement  left  behind.  The 
drift  of  the  settlers  was  to  the  Gila  Valley. 

This  Forest  Dale  affair  was  made  a  national  matter, 
January  24,  1916,  when  a  bill  was  introduced  by  Senator 
Ashurst  of  Arizona  for  the  relief  of  Alfred  Cluff,  Orson 
Cluff,  Henry  E.  Norton,  Wm.  B.  Ballard,  Elijah  Hancock, 
Susan  R.  SaHne,  Oscar  Mann,  Celia  Thayne,  Wilham  Cox, 
Theodore  Farley,  Adelaide  Laxton,  Clara  L.  Tenney, 
Geo.  M.  Adams,  Charlotte  Jensen  and  Sophia  Huff.  Later 
additions  were  David  E.  Adams  and  Peter  H.  McBride. 

The  amounts  claimed  by  each  varied  from  $2000  to 
$15,000.  A  similar  bill  had  been  introduced  by  the  Senator 
in  a  previous  Congress.  In  his  statement  to  the  Indian 
Affairs  Committee,  the  Senator  stated  that  the  settlements 
had  been  on  unreserved  and  vacant  Government  lands  and 
that  the  reservation  had  been  extended  to  cover  the  tract 
some  time  in  1882. 

Appended  were  affidavits  from  each  of  the  individuals 
claiming  compensation.  All  told  of  moving  during  the 
winter,  under  conditions  of  great  hardship,  of  cold  and 
exposure  and  loss  of  property. 

David  E.  Adams,  one  of  the  few  survivors  of  the 
Forest  Dale  settlement,  lately  advised  the  Author  that  the 
change  in  the  reservation  hne  undeniably  was  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  C.  E.  Cooley,  a  noted  Indian  scout,  who  feared 
the  Mormons  would  compete  with  him  in  supplying  corn 
and  forage  to  Fort  Apache. 

Tonto  Basin's  Early  Settlement 

Soon  after  location  on  the  Little  Colorado  there  was 
exploration  to  the  southwest,  with  a  view  toward  settle- 
ment extension.  At  the  outset  was  encountered  the  very 
serious  obstruction  of  the  great  Mogollon  Rim,  a  precipice 
that  averages  more  than  1000  feet  in  height  for  several 

173 


hundred  miles.  Ways  through  this  were  found,  however, 
into  Tonto  Basin,  a  great  expanse,  about  100  miles  in  length 
by  80  in  width,  lying  south  and  southwest  of  the  Rim, 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Mazatzal  Mountains,  and  on  the 
south  and  southeast  by  spurs  of  the  Superstitions  and 
Finals.  The  Basin  itself  contains  a  sizable  mountain  range, 
the  Sierra  Ancha. 

The  first  exploration  was  made  in  July,  1876,  by  Wm. 
C.  Allen,  John  Bushman,  Pleasant  Bradford  and  Peter  Han- 
sen. Their  report  was  unfavorable,  in  considering  settle- 
ment. In  the  fall  of  the  following  year  there  was  explora- 
tion by  John  W.  Freeman,  John  H.  Willis,  Thomas  Clark, 
Alfred  J.  Randall,  Willis  Fuller  and  others.  They  re- 
turned a  more  favorable  report.  In  March,  1878,  Willis 
drove  stock  into  the  upper  Basin  and  also  took  the  first 
wagon  to  the  East  Verde  Valley.  He  was  followed  by 
Freeman  and  family  and  Riel  Allen.  Freeman  located  a 
road  to  the  Rim,  from  Pine  Springs  to  Baker's  Butte,  about 
forty  miles.  Price  W.  Nielson  (or  Nelson)  settled  on  Rye 
Creek,  in  1878.  In  the  following  year  was  started  the  Pine 
settlement,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  the  East  Verde 
settlement,  with  Riel  AUen  at  its  head.  There  is  record 
that  most  of  the  settlers  on  the  East  Verde  moved  away  in 
1879,  mainly  to  Pine,  and  others  back  to  the  Little  Colo- 
rado. However,  the  Author,  in  September  of  1889,  found  a 
very  prosperous  little  Mormon  settlement  on  the  East 
Verde,  raising  alfalfa,  fruit  and  livestock.  It  was  called 
Mazatzal  City  and  lay  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Natural 
Bridge,  which  is  on  the  lower  reaches  of  Pine  Creek  before 
that  stream  joins  the  East  Verde. 

A  settlement  was  in  existence  at  least  as  late  as  1889 
on  upper  Tonto  Creek.  The  first  resident  was  David 
Gowan,  discoverer  of  the  Natural  Bridge,  he  and  two 
others  taking  advantage  of  the  presence  of  a  beaver-built 
log  dam,  from  which  an  irrigating  canal  was  started.  The 
first  of  the  Mormon  settlers  at  that  point,  in  1883,  were 

174 


John  and  David  W.  Sanders,  with  their  famihes,  they 
followed  by  the  Adams,  Bagley  and  Gibson  families.  This 
location  was  a  very  lonely  one,  though  less  than  ten  miles, 
by  rocky  trail,  from  the  town  of  Payson.  It  was  not  well 
populated,  at  any  time,  though  soil,  climate  and  water 
were  good. 

Erastus  Snow  in  1878  made  formal  visit  to  the  Tonto 
settlements.  He  found  on  Rye  Creek  the  Price  Nelson  and 
Joseph  Gibson  families,  less  than  a  mile  above  where  the 
stream  entered  Tonto  Creek.  Thereafter  were  visited  the 
East  Verde  settlements,  from  which  most  of  the  men  had 
gone  to  southern  Utah  after  their  families  and  stock,  and 
Pine  Creek  and  Strawberry  Valley,  where  later  was  con- 
siderable settlement. 

According  to  Fish,  the  first  settlement  in  Tonto  Basin 
was  by  Al  Rose,  a  Dane,  in  1877,  in  Pleasant  Valley,  though 
he  lived  for  only  a  few  months  in  a  stockade  home  which 
he  erected.  Then  came  G.  S.  Sixby  and  J.  Church  from 
California.  There  followed  Ed.  Rose,  J.  D.  Tewksbury 
and  sons,  the  Graham  family  and  James  Stinson,  the  last 
from  Snowfiake.  Sixby  is  renowned  as  the  hero  of  a 
wonderful  experience  in  the  spring  of  1882,  when,  his 
brother  and  an  employe  killed,  he  held  the  fort  of  his  log 
home  against  more  than  100  Indians,  the  same  band  later 
fought  and  captured  by  Capt.  Adna  R.  Chaffee  in  the 
fight  of  the  Big  Dry  Wash. 

There  was  good  reason  for  the  delayed  settlement  of 
Tonto  Basin,  for  it  was  a  region  traversed  continually  by 
a  number  of  Indian  tribes.  It  was  a  sort  of  No  Man*s  Land, 
in  which  wandered  the  Mohave-Apache  and  the  Tonto, 
the  Cibicu  and  White  Mountain  Apaches,  not  always  at 
peace  among  themselves.  Several  times  the  Pleasant  and 
Cherry  Creek  Valleys  were  highways  for  Indian  raids  of 
large  dimensions.  The  Pleasant  Valley  war,  between  the 
Tewksbury  and  Graham  factions  cost  thirty  hves.  No 
Mormon  participated. 

175 


Most  of  the  land  holdings  necessarily  were  small.  The 
water  supply  is  regular  in  only  a  few  places.  Hence  it  is 
natural  that  most  of  the  Mormons  who  settled,  moved  on, 
to  better  agricultural  conditions  found  farther  southward. 
Abandonment  of  all  Tonto  Basin  settlements  was  author- 
ized at  a  meeting  of  President  Woodruff  with  the  heads 
of  the  Arizona  Stakes,  held  at  Albuquerque  August  14, 1890. 


176 


Chapter  Sixteen 


Genesis  of  St.  Johns 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Arizona  settlements  is 
St.  Johns,  58  miles  southeast  of  Holbrook,  its  railroad 
station.  Though  its  development  has  been  almost  entirely 
Mormon  and  though  it  is  headquarters  for  the  St.  Johns 
Stake  of  the  Church,  its  foundation  dates  back  of  the 
Mormon  occupation  of  the  valley  of  the  Little  Colorado. 

Very  early  in  the  seventies.  New  Mexican  cattle  and 
sheep  men  spread  their  ranges  over  the  mountains  into  the 
Little  Colorado  Valley  and  there  were  occasional  camps  of 
the  Spanish-speaking  people.  In  1872  a  mail  carrier,  John 
Walker,  had  built  a  cabin  on  the  river,  five  miles  below  the 
site  of  St.  Johns.  As  early  as  1864  the  locality  had  been 
visited  by  Solomon  Barth,  a  Jewish  trader,  who  dealt  with 
the  Indians  as  far  eastward  as  Zuni  and  who,  on  burros, 
packed  salt  from  the  Zuni  salt  lake  to  the  mining  camps 
of  the  Prescott  section.  Barth,  oddly  enough,  for  a  while 
had  been  connected  with  the  Mormons,  at  the  age  of  13,  a 
new  arrival  from  Posen,  East  Prussia,  joining  his  uncle  in 
a  push-cart  caravan  to  Salt  Lake.  Later  he  was  in  San 
Bernardino,  there  remaining  after  the  1857  exodus,  to  go 
to  La  Paz,  Arizona,  in  1862.  In  1864  he  carried  mail  on 
the  route  from  Albuquerque  to  Prescott,  as  contractor. 
In  November,  1868,  he  was  captured  by  Apaches,  but  was 
liberated,  with  several  Mexican  associates,  all  almost  naked, 
reaching  the  Zuni  villages,  on  foot,  four  days  later.  For 
food  they  shared  the  carcass  of  a  small  dog.  In  1870  he  was 
post  trader  at  Fort  Apache,  then  known  as  Camp  Ord,  in 

177 


the  year  of  its  establishment.  In  1873,  a  game  of  cards  at 
El  Badito  (Little  Crossing),  a  settlement  on  the  Little 
Colorado,  on  the  St.  Johns  site,  determined  his  future 
terrestrial  place  of  residence.  From  his  adversaries. 
New  Mexicans,  he  won  several  thousand  head  of  sheep  and 
several  thousand  dollars.  Then  he  left  the  life  of  the  road 
and  settled  down. 

A.  F.  Banta,  a  pioneer  of  Arizona  pioneers,  then  known 
by  his  army  name  of  Charlie  Franklin,  tells  that  he  was  at 
Badito  (Vadito)  in  1876,  the  place  then  on  a  mail  route 
southward  to  Fort  Apache  and  the  military  posts  on  the 
Gila.  In  the  same  connection,  James  D.  Houck,  in  1874, 
contracted  to  carry  mail  across  the  Little  Colorado  Valley, 
between  Fort  Wingate  and  Prescott.  Another  mail  route 
was  from  Wingate  to  St.  Johns  and  Apache. 

Sol  Barth  and  his  brothers,  Morris  and  Nathan,  settled 
at  St.  Johns  in  the  fall  of  1873,  with  a  number  of  New  Mex- 
ican laborers.  At  once  was  commenced  construction  of  a 
dam  across  the  Little  Colorado  and  of  ditches  and  there 
was  farming  of  a  few  hundred  acres  adjoining  the  site  of 
the  present  town.  In  all,  Barth  laid  claim  to  1200  acres 
of  land,  though  it  proved  later  he  had  only  a  squatter  title. 
With  him  originated  the  name  of  St.  Johns,  at  first  San 
Juan,  given  in  compliment  to  the  first  female  resident, 
Senora  Maria  San  Juan  Baca  de  Padilla.  With  this  conspic- 
uous exception,  all  saintly  names  in  Arizona  were  bestowed 
by  either  Catholic  missionaries  or  by  Mormons. 

Ammon  M.  Tenney,  a  scout  of  Mormondom  second  only 
to  Jacob  Hamblin,  in  1877  at  Kanab  received  from  Presi- 
dent Brigham  Young  instructions  to  go  into  Arizona  and 
select  places  for  colonization.  He  visited  many  points  in 
western  New  Mexico  and  eastern  Arizona,  but  his  recom- 
mendation was  confined  to  St.  Johns,  Concho,  sixteen  miles 
west  of  St.  Johns,  The  Meadows,  eight  miles  northwest,  and 
Woodruff. 

With  the  Tenney  report  in  mind,  in  January,  1879,  St. 

178 


Johns  was  visited  by  Jesse  N.  Smith,  just  arrived  in  Arizona 
to  be  president  of  the  Little  Colorado  Stake.  But  Smith 
was  unable  to  make  terms  with  Barth  and  his  Mexican 
neighbors  and  turned  back  to  Snowflake. 

Land  Purchased  by  Mormons 

Under  instructions  from  the  Church,  Ammon  M.  Ten- 
ney  returned  to  St.  Johns  late  in  1879  and,  November  16, 
succeeded  in  effecting  the  purchase  of  the  Barth  interests, 
including  three  claims  at  The  Meadows.  The  purchase 
price  was  770  head  of  American  cows,  furnished  by  the 
Church,  though  100  were  loaned  by  W.  J.  Flake.  The  value 
of  the  livestock,  estimated  at  $19,000,  in  later  years  was 
donated  by  the  Church  toward  the  erection  of  the  St. 
Johns  academy.  Other  land  purchases  later  were  made  by 
arriving  members. 

Tenney  was  the  first  head  of  the  colony,  which  was 
started  in  December,  by  the  arrival  of  Jos.  H.  Watkins  and 
Wm.  F.  James,  missionaries  sent  from  Ogden,  who  came 
with  their  families.  In  December,  Apostle  Wilford  Wood- 
ruff, later  President  of  the  Church,  held  the  first  religious 
meeting,  this  at  the  home  of  Donasiano  Gurule,  a  New 
Mexican.  The  Church  authorities  were  active  in  their 
settlement  plans  and  at  a  quarterly  Stake  conference  in 
Snowflake,  March  27,  1880,  190  souls  were  reported  from 
the  St.  Johns  branch. 

A  few  days  after  the  conference.  Apostle  Woodruff 
located  a  townsite  one  and  a  half  miles  below  the  center  of 
the  present  site.  This  location,  though  surveyed  and  with  a 
few  houses,  was  abandoned  the  following  September,  on 
recommendation  of  Apostles  Erastus  Snow  and  Francis  M. 
Lyman,  for  higher  ground,  west  and  north  of  the  Mexican 
village.  In  the  summer  of  1880  the  settlement,  named 
Salem,  was  given  a  postoffice,  but  the  Mormon  postmaster 
appointed,  Sixtus  E.  Johnson,  failed  to  secure  his  keys  from 
a  non-Mormon,  E.  S.  Stover,  incumbent  at  San  Juan. 

A  notable  arrival,  October  9,  1890,  was  David  K.  Udall, 

179 


called  from  Kane  County,  Utah,  to  serve  as  bishop  of  St. 
Johns  ward.  With  continuous  ecclesiastical  service,  he  now 
is  president  of  St.  Johns  Stake,  elevated  in  July,  1887. 

Occupation  of  the  new  townsite  started  early  in  Octo- 
ber, 1880,  the  public  square  designated  by  President  Jesse 
N.  Smith  on  the  9th.  Twenty  square-rod  city  lots  were 
laid  off  in  blocks  24  rods  square,  with  streets  six  rods  wide. 
In  the  spring  of  1881  the  farming  land  was  surveyed  into 
forty  40-acre  blocks,  these  later  subdivided.  During  the 
winter  of  1881  was  built  a  log  schoolhouse,  through  private 
donations.  The  j&rst  teacher  was  Mrs.  Anna  Romney.  The 
first  church  was  a  "bowery"  of  greasewood. 

That  the  years  following  hardly  were  ones  of  plenty 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  the  spring  of  1885  President 
John  Taylor  issued  a  tithing  office  order  for  $1000  and  $1187 
more  was  collected  in  Utah  stakes,  to  aid  the  St.  Johns 
settlers  in  the  purchase  of  foodstuffs  and  seed  grain. 

A.  F.  Banta  started  a  weekly  newspaper,  "The  Pioneer 
Press,"  soon  after  occupation  of  the  townsite,  this  journal 
in  January,  1883,  bought  by  Mormons  and  edited  by 
M.  P.  Romney. 

Wild  Celebration  of  St.  John's  Day 

There  was  a  wild  time  in  St.  Johns  on  the  day  of  the 
Mexican  population's  patron  saint,  San  Juan,  June  24, 
1882,  when  Nat  Greer  and  a  band  of  Texas  cowboys  entered 
the  Mexican  town.  The  Greers  had  been  unpopular  with 
the  Mexicans  since  they  had  marked  a  Mexican  with  an  ear 
"underslope,"  as  cattle  are  marked,  this  after  a  charge  that 
their  victim  had  been  found  in  the  act  of  stealing  a  Greer 
colt.  The  fight  that  followed  the  Greer  entry  had  nothing 
at  its  initiation  to  do  with  the  Mormon  settlers.  Assaulted 
by  the  Mexican  police  and  populace,  eight  of  the  band  rode 
away  and  four  were  penne<^  into  an  uncompleted  adobe 
house.  Jim  Vaughn  of  the  raiders  was  killed  and  Harris 
Greer  was  wounded.  On  the  attacking  side  was  wounded 
Francisco  Tafolla,  whose  son  in  later  years  was  killed  while 

180 


serving  in  the  Arizona  Rangers.  It  was  declared  that 
several  thousand  shots  had  been  fired,  but  there  was  a  lull, 
in  which  the  part  of  peacemaker  was  taken  up  by  "Father" 
Nathan  C.  Tenney,  a  pioneer  of  Woodruff  and  father  of 
Amnion  M.  Tenney.  He  walked  to  the  house  and  induced 
the  Greers  to  surrender.  The  Sheriff,  E.  S.  Stover,  was 
summoned  and  was  in  the  act  of  taldng  the  men  to  jail  when 
a  shot  was  fired  from  a  loft  of  the  Barth  house,  where  a 
number  of  Mexicans  had  estabhshed  themselves.  The 
bullet,  possibly  intended  for  a  Greer,  passed  through  the 
patriarch's  head  and  neck,  killing  him  instantly.  The 
Greers  were  threatened  with  lynching,  but  were  saved  by 
the  sheriff's  determination.  Their  case  was  taken  to  Pres- 
cott  and  they  escaped  with  light  punishment. 

In  the  fall  of  1881  the  community  knew  a  summary 
execution  of  two  men  and  there  were  other  deeds  of  dis- 
order, but  in  no  wise  did  they  affect  the  Mormon  people, 
save  that  the  lawless  actions  unsettled  the  usual  peaceful 
conditions. 

Disputes  Over  Land  Titles 

It  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  work  to  deal  in  mat- 
ters of  controversial  sort,  especially  with  those  that  may 
have  affected  the  religious  features  of  the  Mormon  settle- 
ment but  there  may  be  mention  of  a  few  of  the  difficulties 
that  came  to  the  people  of  St.  Johns  in  their  earlier  days. 

The  general  subject  of  land  titles  in  the  Mormon  settle- 
ments that  came  within  the  scope  of  railroad  land  grants 
has  been  referred  to  on  other  pages.  In  St.  Johns  there  was 
added  need  for  defense  of  the  squatter  titles  secured  from 
Barth  and  the  Mexicans,  while  there  was  assault  on  the 
validity  of  the  occupation  of  the  townsite.  On  several 
occasions,  especially  in  March,  1884,  there  was  attempted 
"jumping"  of  the  choicest  lots  and  there  was  near  approach 
to  bloodshed,  prevented  only  by  the  pacific  determination 
of  Bishop  Udall.  The  opposition  upset  a  house  that  had 
been  placed  upon  one  lot  and  riotous  conditions  prevailed 

181 


for  hours.  Reinforcements  quickly  came  from  outlying 
Mormon  settlements  and  firearms  were  carried  generally 
in  self  defense.  A  number  of  lawsuits  had  to  be  defended,  at 
large  expense.  There  was  friction  with  the  Mexican  element, 
which  lived  compactly  in  the  old  town,  just  east  of  the  Mor- 
mon settlement,  and  clashes  were  known  with  a  non-Mor- 
mon American  element  that  had  political  connection  with 
the  Mexicans. 

About  May  18,  1884,  was  discovered  a  plot  to  waylay 
and  harm  Apostle  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  and  Francis  M. 
Lyman,  on  the  road  to  Ramah,  but  a  strong  escort  fended 
off  the  danger.  In  the  Stake  chronicles  is  told  that  the 
brethren  for  a  time  united  in  regular  fasting  and  pl-ayer, 
seeking  protection  from  their  enemies. 

Irrigation  Difficulties  and  Disaster 

St.  Johns  had  its  irrigation  troubles,  just  as  did  every 
other  Little  Colorado  settlement,  only  on  a  larger  scale. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  Mormon  settlement,  claim  was  made 
by  the  Mexicans  upon  the  larger  part  of  the  river  flow. 
Later  there  was  compromise  on  a  basis  of  three-fifths  of 
the  flow  to  the  Mormons  and  two-fifths  to  the  Mexicans, 
and  in  1886  a  degree  of  stability  was  secured  by  formation 
of  the  St.  Johns  Irrigation  Company.  A  large  dam,  six 
miles  south  of  St.  Johns,  created  what  was  called  the  Slough 
reservoh*.  However,  this  dam  was  washed  out  in  1903, 
after  years  of  drouth.  Then  were  several  years  of  dis- 
couragement and  of  loss  of  population. 

Thereafter  came  the  idea  of  building  a  larger  dam  at  a 
point  twelve  miles  upstream,  creating  a  reservoir  to  be 
drained  through  a  deep  cut.  The  plan  was  approved  by  the 
Church,  which  appropriated  $5000  toward  construction. 
There  was  formation  of  an  irrigation  company,  to  which 
was  attached  the  name  of  Apostle  F.  M.  Lyman,  who  had 
taken  a  personal  interest  in  the  improvement.  A  Colorado 
company  provided  one-half  the  necessary  capital  and  the 
community  the  balance,  and  plans  were  made  for  the  rec- 

182 


lamation  of  15,000  acres  upon  higher  land  than  had  been 
irrigated  before.  After  expenditure  of  $200,000,  the  dam 
was  completed  and  the  reservoir  filled.  Construction  was 
faulty  and  in  April,  1915,  the  dam  was  washed  away,  with 
attendant  loss  of  eight  lives  and  with  large  damage  to 
flooded  farms  below.  There  was  reorganization  of  the  Ly- 
man Company  and  about  S200,000  more  was  spent,  with 
the  desired  end  of  water  storage  still  unreached.  Then 
came  appeal  to  the  State,  which,  through  the  State  Loan 
Board,  advanced  large  sums,  taking  as  security  mortgages 
on  the  land  and  dam.  State  investment  in  the  Lyman 
project  today  approximates  $800,000.  The  dam  now  is 
about  finished  and  is  claimed  to  be  a  structure  that  will 
stand  all  flood  conditions. 

Meager  Rations  at  Concho 

Concho  was  a  Mexican  village,  at  least  a  dozen  years 
established,  when  the  first  Mormon  settlers  arrived.  The 
name  probably  is  from  the  Spanish  word  "concha,"  a 
shell.  The  settlement  lies  sixteen  miles  west  of  St.  Johns. 
There  were  two  sections,  the  older,  in  which  Spanish  was 
spoken  and  in  which  stock  raising  was  the  main  occupation, 
and  the  Mormon  settlement,  a  mile  up  the  valley,  in  which 
there  was  effort  to  exist  by  agriculture  on  what  was  called 
a  "putty"  soil,  with  lack  of  sufficient  water  supply.  The 
first  of  the  Mormons  to  come  was  Bateman  H.  Wilhelm, 
who  arrived  in  March,  1879.  Soon  thereafter  Wm.  J.  Flake 
and  Jesse  J.  Brady  purchased  the  main  part  of  the  valley, 
the  former  paying  for  his  half  interest  eight  cows,  one  mule, 
a  set  of  harness  and  a  set  of  blacksmith  tools.  Before  the 
end  of  the  year,  about  thirty  Saints  were  resident  in  the 
locality,  some  of  the  later  arrivals  being  David  Pulsipher, 
a  Mormon  Battalion  member,  Geo.  H.  Killian  and  Chas. 
G.  Curtis.  A  townsite  was  roughly  surveyed  by  brethren 
who  laid  their  stakes  by  the  North  Star.  September  26, 
1880,  there  was  organization  of  a  Church  ward  and  there 
was  assumed  the  name  of  Erastus,  in  honor  of  Erastus 

183 


Snow,  who  then  was  presiding  at  a  Snowflake  conference. 
This  name  was  abandoned  for  that  of  Concho  at  a  Church 
meeting  held  in  St.  Johns  December  6,  1895.  In  later  years, 
the  Mormon  residents,  after  building  a  reservoir  and  ex- 
pending much  effort  toward  irrigation,  generally  have 
turned  from  agriculture  to  stock  raising. 

Hunt  is  an  agricultural  settlement  seventeen  miles  down 
the  stream  from  St.  Johns  and  one  mile  below  a  former 
Mexican  settlement,  near  San  Antonio,  above  which  at 
some  time  subsequent  to  1876  there  settled  an  army  officer 
named  Hunt,  who  left  the  service  at  Fort  Apache  and  whose 
descendants  live  in  the  county.  The  first  Mormon  settler 
was  Thomas  L.  Greer  in  1879,  the  old  Greer  ranch  still 
maintained,  a  mile  east  of  the  present  postoffice.  Thereafter, 
the  location  was  known  as  Greer  Valley.  In  1901,  D.  K. 
Udall  became  a  resident  and  in  that  year  his  wife,  appointed 
postmaster,  was  instrumental  in  naming  the  office  and 
locality  after  her  father,  John  Hunt,  of  the  Mormon  Bat- 
talion, who  had  a  farm  in  the  locality  a  year  or  so  there- 
after, though  not  actually  resident. 

The  Meadows  purchase,  eight  miles  northwest  of  St. 
Johns,  was  occupied  November  28,  1879.  Among  the  set- 
tlers was  the  famous  Indian  missionary,  Ira  Hatch. 

Walnut  Grove,  twenty  miles  south  of  St.  Johns,  was 
settled  early  in  1882  by  Jas.  W.  Wilkins  and  son,  who  bought 
Mexican  claims.  There  was  trouble  over  water  priorities 
on  the  flow  of  the  Little  Colorado  and  the  place  now  has 
small  population,  much  of  it  Spanish-speaking. 

Springerville  and  Eagar 

Valle  Redondo  (Round  Valley),  32  miles  southeast  of 
St.  Johns,  was  the  original  name  of  the  Springerville  section. 
The  first  settler  was  Wm.  R.  Milligan,  a  Tennessean,  who 
established  a  fort  in  the  valley  in  1871.  The  name  was 
given  in  honor  of  Harry  Springer,  an  Albuquerque  mer- 
chant, who  had  a  branch  store  in  the  valley.  A.  F.  Banta 
states  that  the  first  town  was  across  the  Little  Colorado 

184 


from  the  present  townsite.  Banta  was  the  first  postmaster, 
in  Becker's  store. 

The  first  Mormons  on  the  ground,  in  February,  1879, 
were  Jens  Skousen,  Peter  J.  Christofferson  and  Jas.  L. 
Robertson,  from  St.  Joseph.  Soon  thereafter  came  Wm.  J. 
Flake,  with  more  cows  available  for  trade,  giving  forty  of 
them  to  one  York,  for  a  planted  grain  field.  Flake  did  not 
remain.  In  March  came  John  T.  Eager,  who  located  four 
miles  south  of  the  present  Springerville,  in  Water  Canyon, 
and  about  the  same  time  arrived  Jacob  Hamblin,  the  scout 
missionary.  The  latter  took  up  residence  in  the  Milligan 
fort  and  was  appointed  to  preside  over  the  Saints  of  the 
vicinity,  but  remained  only  till  winter. 

In  1882,  President  Jesse  N.  Smith  divided  Round  Valley 
into  two  wards,  the  upper  to  be  known  as  Amity  and  the 
lower  as  Omer.  In  1888  the  people  of  these  wards  estab- 
hshed  a  townsite,  two  miles  above  and  south  of  Springer- 
ville, which  was  a  Spanish-speaking  community.  The  new 
town,  at  first  known  as  Union,  later  was  named  Eagar, 
after  the  three  Eagar  brothers. 

A  Land  of  Beaver  and  Bear 

Nutrioso,  sixteen  miles  southeast  of  Springerville,  is 
very  near  the  dividing  ridge  of  the  Gila  and  Little  Colo- 
rado watersheds.  The  name  is  a  combination  of  nutria 
(Sp.,  otter)  and  oso  (Sp.,  bear).  "Nutria"  was  applied 
to  the  beaver,  of  which  there  were  many.  The  first  English- 
speaking  settler  was  Jas.  G.  H.  Colter,  a  lumberman  from 
Wisconsin,  who  came  to  Round  Valley  in  July,  1875,  driving 
three  wagons  from  Atchison,  Kansas,  losing  a  half  year's 
provision  of  food  to  Navajos,  as  toll  for  crossing  the  reserva- 
tion. He  grew  barley  for  Fort  Apache,  getting  $9  per  100 
pounds.  In  1879,  at  Nutrioso,  he  sold  his  farm,  for  300  head 
of  cattle,  to  Wm.  J.  Flake.  The  Colter  family  for  years  had 
its  home  four  miles  above  Springerville,  at  Colter,  but  the 
founder  is  in  the  Pioneers'  Home  at  Prescott.  One  of  the 
sons,  Fred,  was  a  candidate  for  Governor  of  Arizona  in  1918, 

185 


Flake  parcelled  out  the  land  to  John  W.,  Thos.  J.,  Jas. 
M.  and  Hyrum  B.  Clark,  John  W.,  J.  Y.,  and  David  J. 
Lee,  Geo.  W.  Adair,  Albert  Minerly,  Adam  Greenwood, 
George  Peck  and  W.  W.  Pace,  the  last  a  citizen  of  later 
prominence  in  the  Gila  Valley.  The  grain  they  raised  the 
first  season,  1700  bushels,  chiefly  barley,  was  sent  as  a 
"loan"  to  the  Little  Colorado  settlers,  who  were  very  near 
starvation. 

In  1880  was  built  a  fort,  for  there  was  fear  of  Apaches, 
who  had  been  wiping  out  whole  villages  in  New  Mexico. 
There  was  concentration  in  Nutrioso  of  outlying  settlers, 
but  the  Indians  failed  to  give  any  direct  trouble.  A  sawmill 
was  started  in  1881  and  a  schoolhouse  was  built  the  follow- 
ing year.    A  postoffice  was  established  in  1883. 

In  Lee's  Valley,  sixteen  miles  southwest  of  Springer- 
ville,  is  Greer,  established  by  the  Saints  in  1879.  The  first 
to  come  were  Peter  J.  Jensen,  Lehi  Smithson,  James  Hale, 
Heber  Dalton  and  James  Lee.  In  1895,  was  added  a  saw- 
mill, built  by  Ellis  W.  Wiltbank  and  John  M.  Black.  The 
name  Greer  was  not  apphed  till  1896.  The  postoffice  dates 
from  1898. 

Altitudinous  Agriculture  at  Alpine 

Alpine,  in  Bush  Valley,  near  the  southern  edge  of  Apache 
County,  four  miles  from  the  New  Mexican  line,  has  alti- 
tude approximating  8000  feet  and  has  fame  as  probably 
being  the  highest  locaHty  in  the  United  States  where  farm- 
ing is  successfully  prosecuted.  Greer  is  about  the  same 
altitude.  The  principal  crop  is  oats,  produced  at  the  rate 
of  1000  bushels  for  every  adult  male  in  the  community. 
Crop  failures  are  unknown,  save  when  the  grasshoppers 
come,  as  they  have  come  in  devouring  clouds  in  a  number 
of  years.  The  location  is  a  healthful  and  a  beautiful  one, 
in  a  valley  surrounded  by  pines.  Anderson  Bush,  not  a 
Mormon,  was  the  first  settler,  in  1876.  March  27,  1879, 
came  Fred  Hamblin  and  Abraham  Winsor,  with  their 
families.    For  years  there  were  the  wildest  of  frontier  con- 

186 


ditions,  between  outlaws  and  Indians.  The  latter  stole 
horses  and  cattle,  but  spared  Mormon  lives.  This  was 
the  more  notable  in  that  many  villages  of  Spanish-speaking 
people  were  raided  by  the  redskins  in  New  Mexico.  Natural- 
ly, the  settlers  huddled  together,  for  better  defense.  In 
1880  the  log  homes  were  moved  into  a  square,  forming  a 
very  effective  sort  of  fort,  nearly  a  mile  southeast  of  the 
present  townsite.  Until  that  time  the  community  had 
kept  the  name  of  Frisco,  given  because  of  the  nearby  head- 
waters of  the  San  Francisco  River.  In  1881  most  of  the 
settlers  moved  over  to  Nutrioso  for  protection,  but  only 
for  a  few  weeks.  Alpine  is  the  resting  place  of  the  bones  of 
Jacob  HambUn,  most  noted  of  southwestern  missionaries  of 
his  faith. 

In  1920  the  County  Agricultural  Agent  reported  that 
only  two  farmers  in  the  United  States  were  growing  the 
Moshannock  potato,  Frederick  Hamblin  at  Alpine  and 
Wallace  H.  Larson  at  Lakeside. 

In  Western  New  Mexico 

Luna,  in  New  Mexico,  twelve  miles  east  of  Alpine, 
Arizona,  was  on  the  sheep  range  of  the  Luna  brothers,  who 
did  not  welcome  the  advent  of  the  first  Mormon  families, 
those  of  the  Swapp  brothers  and  Lorenzo  Watson,  February 
28,.  1883.  Two  prospectors  had  to  be  bought  out,  to  clear 
a  squatter's  title.  In  the  summer  came  "Parson'*  Geo.  C. 
Williams,  also  a  pioneer  of  Pleasanton.  The  first  name 
adopted  was  Grant,  in  honor  of  Apostle  Heber  J.  Grant, 
this  later  changed  to  Heber,  as  there  was  an  older  New 
Mexican  settlement  named  Grant's.  But  even  this  con- 
flicted with  Heber,  Arizona  (named  after  Heber  C.  Kim- 
ball), and  so  the  original  name  endures,  made  official  in 
1895.  The  first  house  was  a  log  fort.  A  notable  present 
resident  is  Frederick  Hamblin,  brother  of  Jacob  and  of  the 
same  frontier  type.  There  is  local  pride  over  how  he  fought, 
single-handed,  with  a  broken  and  unloaded  rifle,  the  largest 
grizzly  bear  ever   known  in  the  surrounding   MogoUon 

187 


Mountains.  This  was  in  November,  1888.  The  bear  fought 
standing  and  was  taller  than  Hamblin,  a  giant  of  a  man, 
two  inches  over  six  feet  in  height.  The  rifle  barrel  was 
thrust  down  the  bear's  throat  after  the  stock  had  been 
torn  away,  and  upon  the  steel  still  are  shown  the  marks  of 
the  brute's  teeth.  The  same  teeth  were  knocked  out  by 
the  flaihng  blows  of  the  desperate  pioneer,  who  finally 
escaped  when  Bruin  tired  of  the  fight.  Then  Hamblin  dis- 
covered himself  badly  hurt,  one  hand,  especially,  chewed 
by  the  bear.  The  animal  later  was  killed  by  a  neighbor  and 
was  identified  by  broken  teeth  and  wounds. 

New  Mexican  Locations 

As  before  noted  in  this  work,  the  Mormon  Church 
sought  Uttle  in  New  Mexico  in  the  pioneering  days,  for 
little  opportunity  existed  for  settlement  in  the  agricultural 
valleys.  In  western  New  Mexico,  however,  the  country 
was  more  open  and  there  was  opportunity  for  missionary 
effort.  Missionaries  were  in  the  Navajo  and  Zuni  country 
in  very  early  days  and  at  the  time  of  the  great  Mormon 
immigration  of  1876  already  there  had  been  Indian  con- 
versions. 

In  that  year,  by  direct  assignment  from  President 
Brigham  Young,  then  at  Kanab,  Lorenzo  Hatch,  later 
joined  by  John  Maughn,  settled  in  the  Zuni  country,  at 
Fish  Springs  and  San  Lorenzo.  Thereafter,  on  arrival  of 
other  missionaries,  were  locations  at  Savoia  and  Savoietta. 
It  should  be  explained  that  these  names,  pronounced  as 
they  stand,  are  rough-hewn  renditions  of  the  Spanish  words 
cebolla,  "onion,"  and  cebolleta,  "little  onion."  Nathan 
C.  Tenney  and  sons  were  among  the  colonists  of  1878. 

In  1880  were  Indian  troubles  that  caused  abandonment 
of  the  locations,  but  a  new  start  was  made  in  1882,  when  a 
number  of  famihes  came  from  the  deserted  Brigham  City 
and  Sunset.  A  new  village  was  started,  about  25  miles 
east  of  the  Arizona  line,  at  first  known  as  Navajo,  but  later 
as  Ramah.  The  public  square  was  on  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 

188 


FOUNDERS    OF    NORTHERN    ARIZONA    TOWNS 

I— Henry  W.  Miller  2— Wm.  C.  Allen 

3 — George  Lake  4 — Wm.  J.  Flake  5 — Charles  Shuniway 

ft r-^r^      H      r'rr,i:KT-      Sir  7 T      A'      R..-V.,..o. 


A  FEW  MORE  PIOXEER.S 


1— Almeda  McClellan 
2— Mrs.  A.  S.  Gibbons 
3 — Mary  Richards 
4 — Joseph  Foutz 
5 — Vinrinia  Curtis 


6 — Benj.  F.  Johnson 
7 — Martha  Curtis 
8 — Josephine  Curtis 
9— Wni.  N.  Fife 
10— J.  D.  Fife 


Indian  pueblo.  Ira  Hatch  came  in  the  fall.  A  large  degree 
of  missionary  success  appears  to  have  been  achieved  among 
the  Zuni,  with  165  baptisms  by  Ammon  M.  Tenney,  but  at 
times  there  was  friction  with  Mexican  residents.  The  land 
on  which  the  town  stood  later  had  to  be  bought  from  a 
cattle  company,  which  had  secured  title  from  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Railroad  Compan3^ 

Bluewater,  near  the  Santa  Fe  railroad,  about  thirty 
miles  northeast  of  Ramah,  is  a  Church  outpost,  estabhshed 
in  1894  by  Ernst  A.  Trietjen  and  Friehoff  G.  Nielson  from 
Ramah.  For  a  while,  from  1905,  it  was  the  home  of  C.  R. 
Hakes,  former  president  of  the  Maricopa  Stake.  Blue- 
water  now  is  a  prosperous  agricultural  settlement,  with 
assured  stored  water  supply  and  an  excellent  market  avail- 
able for  its  products. 

Most  southerly  of  the  early  New  Mexican  Church 
settlements  was  Pleasanton,  on  the  San  Francisco  River,  in 
Wilhams  Valley,  and  sixty  miles  northwest  of  Silver  City. 
The  first  settler  was  Geo.  C.  Williams,  who  came  in  1879. 
At  no  time  was  there  much  population.  Jacob  Hamblin 
here  spent  the  few  last  years  of  his  life,  dying  August  31, 
1886.  His  family  was  the  last  to  quit  the  locaUty,  departing 
in  1889. 


189 


Chapter  Seventeen 


^cononttc  Olmibtluinsi 


Nature  and  Man  Both  Were  Difficult 

To  the  struggle  with  the  elements,  to  the  difficulties 
that  attended  the  breaking  of  a  stubborn  soil  and  to  the 
agricultural  utilization  of  a  widely- varying  water  supply, 
to  the  burdens  of  drouth  and  flood  and  disease  was  added 
the  intermittent  hostility  of  stock  interests  that  would  have 
stopped  all  farming  encroachment  upon  the  open  range. 
Concerning  this  phase  of  frontier  life  in  Arizona,  the  follow- 
ing is  from  the  pen  of  B.  H.  Roberts: 

The  settlers  in  the  St.  Johns  and  Snowflake  Stakes  have  met  with 
great  difficulties,  first  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  country  itself, 
its  variable  periods  of  drouth,  sometimes  long-continued,  when  the 
parched  earth  yields  little  on  the  ranges  for  the  stock,  and  makes  the 
supply  of  water  for  irrigation  purposes  uncertain;  then  came  flood 
periods,  that  time  and  again  destroyed  reservoir  dams  and  washed  out 
miles  of  irrigating  canals.  This  was  also  the  region  of  great  cattle 
and  sheep  companies,  occupying  the  public  domain  with  their  herds, 
sometimes  by  lease  from  the  government,  sometimes  by  mere  usurpa- 
tion. The  cattle  and  sheep  companies  and  their  employees  waged 
fierce  war  upon  each  other  for  possession  of  the  range,  and  both  were 
opposed  to  the  incoming  of  the  settlers,  as  trespassers  upon  their 
preserves.  The  stock  companies  often  infringed  upon  the  settlers' 
rights,  disturbed  their  peace,  ran  off  their  stock  and  resorted  to  occa- 
sional violence  to  discourage  their  settling  in  the  country.  Being 
"Mormons,"  the  outlaw  element  of  the  community  felt  that  they 
could  trespass  upon  their  rights  with  impunity,  and  the  civil  officers 
gave  them  none  too  warm  a  welcome  into  the  Territory.  The  colo- 
nists, however,  persisted  in  their  efforts  to  form  and  maintain  settle- 
ments in  the  face  of  all  these  discouraging  circumstances.  The  fighting 
of  the  great  cattle  and  sheep  companies  for  possession  of  range  privi- 
leges is  now  practically  ended;  the  building  of  more  substantial  reser- 

190 


voirs  is  mastering  the  flood  problems  and  the  drouth  periods  at  the 
same  time,  and  the  Saints,  by  the  uprightness  of  their  lives,  their 
industry,  perseverance,  and  enterprise,  have  proven  their  value  as 
citizens  in  the  commonwealth,  until  the  prejudices  of  the  past,  which 
gave  them  a  cold  reception  on  their  advent  into  Arizona,  and  slight 
courtesy  from  the  older  settlers,  have  given  way  to  more  enlightened 
policies  of  friendship;  and  today  peace  and  confidence  and  respect  are 
accorded  to  the  Latter-day  Saints  of  Arizona. 

A  view  of  early-day  range  conditions  along  the  Little 
Colorado  lately  was  given  by  David  E.  Adams: 

When  we  came  to  Arizona  in  1876,  the  hills  and  plains  were 
covered  with  high  grass  and  the  country  was  not  cut  up  with  ravines 
and  gullies  as  it  is  now.  This  has  been  brought  about  through  over- 
s  tocking  the  ranges.  On  the  Little  Colorado  we  could  cut  hay  for  miles 
and  miles  in  every  direction.  The  Aztec  Cattle  Company  brought 
tens  of  thousands  of  cattle  into  the  country,  claimed  every  other  sec- 
tion, overstocked  the  range  and  fed  out  all  the  grass.  Then  the  water, 
not  being  held  back,  followed  the  cattle  trails  and  cut  the  country  up. 
Later,  tens  of  thousands  of  cattle  died  because  of  drouth  and  lack  of 
feed  and  disease.     The  river  banks  were  covered  with  dead  carcasses. 

Breaking  the  ground  in  Arizona  was  found  a  very  serious 
task,  even  on  the  plains  or  where  Nature  had  provided 
ample  rains.  Where  industry  created  an  oasis,  to  it  ever 
swarmed  the  wild  life  of  the  surrounding  hills  or  deserts. 
Prairie  dogs,  rabbits  and  coyotes  took  toll  from  the  pioneer 
farmer,  sometimes  robbing  him  of  the  whole  of  the  meager 
store  of  foodstuffs  so  necessary  to  maintain  his  family  and 
to  secure  his  residence.  From  1884  to  1891  there  were 
occasional  visitations,  in  the  Little  Colorado  Valley,  of 
grasshoppers.  For  several  years  the  settlement  of  Alpine 
was  reported  "devastated"  and  for  a  couple  of  years  at 
Ramah  the  crops  were  so  taken  by  grasshoppers  that  the 
men  had  to  go  elsewhere  for  work  to  secure  sustenance  for 
their  famiHes.  St.  Johns,  Erastus  and  Luna  all  suffered 
severely  at  times  from  insect  devastation.  Winters  were  of 
unusual  severity. 

Railroad  Work  Brought  Bread 

Just  as  the  Saints  of  Utah  benefited  by  the  construction 

191 


of  the  Central  and  Union  Pacific  railroads,  so  there  was 
benefit  in  northeastern  Arizona  through  the  work  of  build- 
ing the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  railroad  in  1880-82.  John  W. 
Young  and  Jesse  N.  Smith,  joined  by  Ammon  M.  Tenney, 
in  the  spring  of  1880  took  a  contract  for  grading  five  miles, 
simply  to  secure  bread  for  the  people  of  the  Little  Colorado 
Valley.  During  the  previous  winter  there  had  been  a  large 
immigration  from  Utah,  where,  erroneously,  it  had  been 
reported  the  Arizonans  had  raised  good  crops,  so  com- 
paratively little  food  was  brought  in.  The  limited  crop 
of  1879  soon  was  consumed  and  the  spring  found  the 
settlers  almost  starving.  Lot  Smith  had  loaned  the  people 
a  quantity  of  wheat  the  previous  season  and  much  of  the 
crop  was  due  him. 

Young  and  Smith  went  as  far  as  Pueblo,  where  they  se- 
cured their  contract  and  on  their  return  made  arrangements 
with  merchants  at  Albuquerque  for  supplies.  The  first 
contract  was  for  a  section  about  24  miles  east  of  Fort 
Wingate,  N.  M.,  and  to  that  point  in  July  went  all  the  men 
who  could  possibly  leave  home.  The  first  company  was 
from  Snowflake,  Jesse  N.  Smith  taking  about  forty  men. 
Soon  thereafter,  flour  was  sent  back  to  the  settlements  and 
there  was  grateful  relief.  After  a  while.  Smith  drew  out  of 
the  railroad  work.  Tenney  returned  to  the  railroad  the 
following  year  to  assist  Young  in  filling  a  contract  for  the 
grading  of  100  miles  and  the  furnishing  of  50,000  ties. 

The  work  on  the  railroad,  while  securing  food  in  a 
critical  period,  still  caused  neglect  of  agriculture  at  home, 
where  the  few  men  remaining,  together  with  the  women 
and  children,  had  to  labor  hard. 

Burden  of  a  Railroad  Land  Grant 

The  settlers  on  the  Little  Colorado  appear  to  have  had 
something  more  than  their  share  of  land  trouble.  Not  only 
were  hardships  in  their  journeyings  thither,  with  following 
privations  in  the  breaking  of  the  wilderness  for  the  use  of 
mankind,  but  there  came  an  additional  and  serious  blow 

192 


when  even  title  to  their  hard-earned  lands  was  disputed, 
apparently  upon  adequate  legal  ground.  The  best  story  at 
hand  concerning  this  feature  of  early  life  on  the  Little 
Colorado  is  found  in  the  Fish  manuscript,  told  by  one  who 
was  on  the  ground  at  the  time  and  who  participated  in  the 
final  settlement: 

In  March,  1872,  the  General  Government  gave  a  railroad  land 
grant  of  every  alternate  section  of  land  bordering  the  proposed  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  railroad,  extending  out  for  forty  miles  each  side  of  said  road, 
through  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  in  the  Territories  of 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  The  rule  was  that  any  lands  settled  upon, 
prior  to  the  date  of  the  grant,  should  be  guaranteed  to  the  settler,  and 
the  railroad  be  indemnified  with  as  much  land  as  was  thus  taken  up 
on  an  additional  grant  of  ten  miles  each  side,  called  lieu  lands,  just 
outside  the  forty-mile  limits  of  the  main  grant.  In  the  fall  of  1878 
and  the  winter  of  1879,  when  the  settlers  arrived  on  the  ground  where 
Snowflake  and  Taylor  now  stand,  they  supposed  the  railroad  grant 
would  doubtless  lapse,  as  there  was  then  no  indication  that  the  road 
would  be  built.  They  bought  the  Stinson  ranch,  paying  an  enor- 
mous price  for  it.  The  Government  had  not  then  surveyed  the  land 
and  the  government  sections  were  not  then  open  for  entry  at  the  land 
oflBce.  But  early  in  1880  the  railroad  company  began  building  its 
road  west  from  Albuquerque.  In  May  of  said  year,  Jesse  N.  Smith, 
on  behalf  of  the  settlers  of  Snowflake,  applied  to  the  railroad  company 
for  the  railroad  lands  they  occupied,  and  received  the  assurance  that 
they,  the  settlers,  should  have  the  first  right  to  their  land,  and  the  first 
refusal  thereof,  and  that  the  price  would  not  be  raised  on  account 
of  their  improvements.  The  railroad  company  even  furnished  blank 
applications,  which  a  number  of  the  settlers  made  out  and  filed  with  the 
company,  which  were  afterwards  ignored.  About  this  time  capitalists 
and  moneyed  men,  many  of  them  foreigners,  began  turning  their  at- 
tention to  cattle  raising  in  our  Territory.  Among  others,  a  company 
known  as  the  Aztec  Land  and  Cattle  Company  was  organized,  com- 
posed mostly  of  capitaUsts  from  the  east.  This  company  bought  a 
very  large  block  of  the  railroad  lands,  including  Snowflake  and  Taylor, 
and  all  in  that  vicinity.  The  new  owners  immediately  served  notice 
on  the  settlers  that  they  must  buy  or  lease  the  railroad  portion,  the  odd- 
numbered  sections  of  the  land  they  occupied.  The  settlers  appointed 
Jesse  N.  Smith  and  Joseph  Fish  a  committee  to  represent  their  claims, 
but  no  definite  understanding  could  be  obtained  from  the  local  officers 
of  the  company,  all  such  business  being  referred  to  the  central  office 
in  New  York  City.     The  railroad  company  not  having  sold  the  land 

193 


at  Woodruff,  it  served  a  similar  notice  on  the  settlers  there,  and  it 
seemed  that  they  would  all  be  compelled  to  abandon  their  improve- 
ments and  move  away.  In  this  emergency,  the  settlers,  who  were  of 
the  Mormon  faith,  applied  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Church  for  relief. 
An  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  improvements  of  the  settlers  was 
made  and  the  amount  was  found  to  so  far  exceed  the  probable  cost  of 
the  land  that  the  Presidency  of  the  Church  appropriated  $500  for  the 
expenses  and  sent  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  and  Jesse  N.  Smith  east  to 
negotiate  a  purchase.  They  started  on  their  mission  in  the  latter 
part  of  February,  1889.  They  finally,  on  April  2,  1889,  closed  a 
contract  in  New  York  City  for  seven  full  sections  of  land  at  $4.50 
per  acre,  one-fifth  of  the  price  being  paid  down,  and  Jesse  N.  Smith 
giving  his  note  for  the  remainder,  to  run  four  years  at  6  per  cent 
interest;  one-fourth  the  amount  to  be  paid  at  the  end  of  each  year, 
and  the  interest  to  be  added  and  paid  every  half  year. 

While  in  New  York  they  also  bargained  with  J.  A.  Williamson, 
the  railroad  land  commissioner,  for  one  section  of  land  at  Woodruff 
at  $8  per  acre,  one-half  at  the  expiration  of  each  year,  with  6  per  cent 
interest  to  be  added  each  half  year.  Payment  was  made  for  the  last 
purchase  in  Albuquerque,  the  contract  being  closed  May  3,  1889. 
The  Mormon  Church  furnished  much  of  that  money  for  these  pur- 
chases, receiving  back  a  small  portion,  as  individuals  were  able  to 
pay  the  same,  and  appropriating  the  remainder  for  the  benefit  of 
schools  and  reservoirs  in  the  vicinity  of  said  towns. 

Little  Trouble  With  Indians 

It  is  notable  that  the  settlers  on  the  Little  Colorado  had 
very  little  actual  trouble  with  the  Indians,  with  the  Navajo 
of  the  north  or  the  Apache  of  the  south.  The  Indians  were 
frequent  visitors  to  the  settlements  and  were  treated  with 
usual  Mormon  hospitality.  There  were  no  depredations 
upon  the  livestock,  and  when  the  peace  of  the  settlements 
was  disturbed  it  was  by  the  white  man  and  not  by  the  red 
brother.  During  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  railroad,  there  was  an  Indian  scare.  This 
originated  in  the  outbreak  of  Nockedaklinny,  a  medicine 
man  of  the  Coyoteros,  who,  August  30,  1881,  was  killed  in 
the  Cibicu  country,  a  day's  travel  from  Fort  Apache,  by 
troops  led  by  Col.  E.  A.  Carr,  Fifth  Cavalry.  Two  days 
later  the  Indians  attacked  Camp  Apache  itself,  after  kilHng 
eight  men  on  the  road,  and  the  post  probably  was  saved 


194 


from  capture  by  the  hurried  return  of  its  commander,  with 
his  troops.  He  left  behind  seven  of  his  men,  having  been 
treacherously  fired  upon  by  23  Indian  scouts,  whom  he 
had  taken  with  him.  A  number  of  murders  were  committed 
by  the  Indians  in  northern  Tonto  Basin,  but  the  insurrec- 
tion extended  no  farther  northward  than  Camp  Apache. 
Still  it  created  great  uneasiness  within  the  comparatively 
unprotected  settlements  of  the  river  valley.  June  1,  1882, 
was  the  killing  of  Nathan  B.  Robinson,  this  the  only 
Indian  murder  of  a  Mormon  in  this  section. 

Church  Admmistrative  Features 

While  this  work  in  no  wise  seeks  to  carry  through  any 
records  of  Church  authority,  it  happens  that  the  leader  in 
each  of  the  southwestern  migrations  and  settlements  was 
a  man  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  Church  Presi- 
dency and  the  greater  number  of  the  settlers  came  by 
direct  Church  "call."  In  the  case  of  the  Little  Colorado 
settlements,  this  "call"  was  not  released  till  January,  1900, 
in  a  letter  of  President  Lorenzo  Snow,  borne  to  St.  Johns 
by  Apostle  (now  President)  Heber  J.  Grant.  The  several 
organizations  of  the  northeastern  districts  are  set  forth, 
with  ofiicial  exactness,  by  Historian  Roberts,  as  follows: 

On  January  27,  1878,  the  Latter-day  Saints  who  had  settled  on  the 
Little  Colorado,  in  Navajo  (then  Yavapai)  County,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Major  Lot  Smith,  by  that  time  grouped  into  four  settlements, 
were  organized  into  a  Stake  of  Zion,  with  Lot  Smith  as  president  and 
Jacob  Hamblin  and  Lorenzo  H.  Hatch  as  counselors.  Three  of  the 
settlements  were  organized  into  wards,  a  bishop  being  appointed  in 
each;  the  fourth  was  made  a"  branch"  with  a  presiding  elder.  This 
was  the  first  stake  organization  effected  in  Arizona.  Before  the 
expiration  of  the  year,  viz.,  27th  December,  President  John  Taylor 
directed  that  the  settlements  forming  further  up  the  Little  Colorado 
in  Apache  County,  be  organized  into  a  Stake.  A  line  running  south- 
ward from  Berardo's  (now  Holbrook,  on  the  Santa  Fe  railroad),  was 
to  be  the  dividing  line  between  the  two  Stakes  thus  proposed.  The 
western  division  was  to  be  the  Little  Colorado  Stake,  and  the  eastern 
division,  Eastern  Arizona  Stake  of  Zion.  The  division  of  the  Stakes 
on  these  lines  was  not  carried  out  at  that  time;  the  Little  Colorado 


195 


stake,  constituted  of  the  wards  already  mentioned  at  its  organization, 
continued  for  several  years,  while  the  Eastern  Arizona  Stake  had 
within  its  jurisdiction,  for  a  number  of  years,  the  settlements  on 
Silver  Creek,  in  the  southeast  comer  of  Navajo  County,  and  also  the 
settlement  of  St.  Johns  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Little  Colorado, 
and  other  minor  settlements  in  Apache  County.  In  1887,  however, 
the  directions  of  President  Taylor,  with  reference  to  the  division  of 
these  settlements  into  two  Stakes,  were  carried  into  effect.  The  name 
of  the  Eastern  Arizona  Stake,  however,  was  changed  at  the  time  of 
the  reorganization,  July  23,  1887,  to  St.  Johns  Stake,  David  K.  Udall, 
bishop  of  St.  Johns,  being  chosen  President,  with  Elijah  Freeman  and 
Wm.  H.  Gibbons  as  counselors.  Later,  viz.,  December  18,  the  settle- 
ments on  the  west  side  of  the  line  running  south  from  Holbrook,  on 
upper  Silver  Creek,  Woodruff  Ward,  and  the  fragments  of  settlements 
formerly  constituting  the  Little  Colorado  StaJce,  by  now  discontinued, 
were  organized  under  the  name  of  the  Snowflake  Stake  of  Zion,  Jesse 
N.  Smith,  formerly  of  the  Eastern  Arizona  Stake,  being  made  President. 

Here  there  may  be  notation  that  David  K.  Udall,  still 
president  at  St.  Johns,  is  one  of  the  very  oldest  in  seniority 
in  such  office  within  the  Church.  At  Snowflake  today  the 
president  is  Samuel  F.  Smith,  son  of  Jesse  N.  Smith,  who 
died  in  his  home  town  June  5,  1906. 


196 


STAKE  PRESIDENTS 


I— Lot  Smith.  Little  Colorado 
3 — Samuel  F.  Smith,  Snowflake 
5 — Christopher  Layton,  St.  Joseph 


2 — Jesse  X.  Smith,  E.  Ariz,  and   Snowflake 
4— David  K.  Udall.  St.  Johns 
6 — Andrew  Kimball,  St.  Joseph 


SNOWFLAKE  ACADEMY 
Destroyed  by  Fire  Thanksgiving  Day,  1910 


PRESENT  SNOWFLAKE  ACADEMY 
Dedicated  Thanksgiving  Day,  1913— Cost  $35,000 


Chapter  Eighteen 


Dan  W.  Jones'  Great  Exploring  Trip 

The  honor  of  leading  Mormon  pioneering  in  south- 
central  Arizona  lies  with  Daniel  W.  Jones,  a  sturdy  charac- 
ter, strong  in  the  faith.  He  had  been  in  the  Mexican  war, 
in  1847,  as  a  Missouri  volunteer,  and  had  remained  in  Mex- 
ico till  1850.  In  the  latter  year  he  started  for  CaHfornia, 
from  Santa  Fe,  and,  in  the  Provo  country  of  Utah,  em- 
braced Mormonism  within  a  settlement  that  had  treated 
him  kindly  after  he  had  accidentally  wounded  himself. 
About  that  time  he  dedicated  himself  to  life  work  among 
the  Indians,  the  Lamanites  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  He 
appeared  to  be  successful  thereafter  in  gaining  the  confi- 
dence of  the  red  men  and  in  carrying  out  the  poUcy  so 
literally  expressed  by  Brigham  Young,  "It  is  cheaper  to 
feed  the  Indians  than  to  fight  them."  Speaking  Spanish,  he 
helped  in  translation  by  Mehton  G.  Trejo,  of  a  part  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon. 

The  printing  done,  a  missionary  party  was  started  south- 
ward September  10,  1875,  from  Nephi,  Utah,  its  members 
being,  besides  Jones,  J.  Z.  Stewart,  Helaman  Pratt,  Wiley 
C.  Jones,  a  son  of  the  leader,  R.  H.  Smith,  Ammon  M. 
Tenney  and  A.  W.  Ivins.  The  journey  was  on  horseback, 
by  way  of  Lee's  Ferry  and  the  Hopi  Indian  villages  and 
thence  to  the  southwest.  At  Pine  Springs,  in  the  Mogollons, 
were  met  Dr.  J.  W.  Wharton  and  W.  F.  McNulty,  who 
told  them  something  of  Phoenix  and  the  Salt  River  Valley 
and  who  advised  settlement  in  the  upper  valley. 

Jones*  personal  story  of  his  impressions  of  the  future 

197 


metropolis  of  the  State  and  of  the  Salt  River  Valley  pos- 
sibly should  be  given  in  his  own  language : 

We  were  much  surprised  on  entering  Salt  River  Valley.  We  had 
traveled  through  deserts  and  mountains  (with  the  exception  of  the 
Little  Colorado  Valley,  a  place  which  we  did  not  particularly  admire) 
for  a  long  ways.  Now  there  opened  before  us  a  sight  truly  lovely. 
A  fertile  looking  soil  and  miles  of  level  plain.  In  the  distance  the 
green  cottonwood  trees;  and,  what  made  the  country  look  more  real, 
was  the  thrifty  little  settlement  of  Phoenix,  with  its  streets  planted 
with  shade  trees  for  miles.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  at  the  time  we 
started,  in  September,  1875,  the  valley  of  Salt  River  was  not  known 
even  to  Brigham  Young. 

Our  animals  were  beginning  to  fail,  as  they  had  lived  on  grass 
since  leaving  Kanab.  We  bought  corn  at  4  cents  a  pound  and  com- 
menced feeding  them  a  little.  Although  Salt  River  Valley  is  naturally 
fertile,  owing  to  the  dryness  of  the  climate,  there  is  no  grass  except  a 
little  coarse  stuff  called  "sacaton." 

We  camped  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  On  making  inquiry, 
we  learned  that  Tempe,  or  Hayden's  Mill,  seven  miles  further  up  the 
river,  would  be  a  better  place  to  stop  for  a  few  days  than  Phoenix. 
C.  T.  Hayden,  being  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  enterprising  settlers 
of  the  country,  had  built  a  grist  mill,  started  ranches,  opened  a  store, 
blacksmith  shop,  wagon  shop,  etc. 

On  arriving  at  Hayden's  place,  we  found  the  owner  an  agreeable, 
intelligent  gentleman,  who  was  much  interested  in  the  settlement  and 
development  of  the  country,  he  being  a  pioneer  in  reality,  having 
been  for  many  years  in  the  west,  and  could  sympathize  with  the 
Mormon  people  in  settling  the  deserts.  He  gave  us  much  true  and 
useful  information  about  the  country  and  natives.  Here  we  traded 
off  some  of  our  pack  mules  and  surplus  provisions.  We  had  already 
traded  for  a  light  spring  wagon,  finding  that  the  country  before 
could  be  traveled  with  wagons.  We  remained  here  a  few  days,  camp- 
ing at  the  ranch  of  Mr.  Winchester  Miller.  His  barley  was  up  several 
inches  high,  but  he  allowed  us  to  turn  our  animals  into  his  fields  and 
treated  us  in  a  kind,  hospitable  manner.  The  friendly  acquaintance 
made  at  this  time  has  always  been  kept  up.  Mr.  Miller  was  an  energetic 
man,  and  manifested  a  great  desire  to  have  the  Mormons  come  there 
and  settle.  He  had  already  noticed  the  place  where  the  Jonesville 
ditch  is  now  located.  He  told  me  about  it,  saying  it  was  the  best 
ditch  site  on  the  river.  What  he  said  has  proved  true.  We  wrote 
to  President  Young,  describing  the  country. 

The  party  tried  some  proselyting  among  the  Pimas  and 

198 


Papagos.  At  Tucson  they  met  Governor  Safford  who  offered 
welcome  to  Mormon  colonists.  Sonora  was  in  the  throes  of 
revolution,  so  they  passed  on  to  El  Paso,  on  the  way  talk- 
ing to  a  camp  of  Apaches,  given  permission  by  the  agent, 
Thos.  T.  Jeffords.  The  San  Pedro  Valley  was  looked  over 
for  possible  settlement. 

In  January,  1876,  the  party  passed  the  international 
hne  at  Paso  del  Norte.  Jones  claimed  this  to  have  been  the 
first  missionary  expedition  that  ever  entered  Mexico.  The 
party  found  it  a  good  land  and  started  back  in  May  with 
a  rather  favorable  impression  of  the  country  for  future 
settlement.  Return  was  by  way  of  Bowie,  Camp  Grant  and 
the  Little  Colorado.  At  Allen's  Camp  were  met  Daniel 
H.  Wells,  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  and  Erastus  Snow,  with 
whom  return  to  Utah  was  made.  President  Young  was  met 
late  in  June,  at  Kanab,  there  expressing  appreciation  of  the 
determination  that  had  brought  Jones  through  every  diffi- 
culty in  the  ten  months  of  journeying. 

The  Pratt-Stewart-Trejo  Expedition 

Of  notable  inteiest  is  the  fact  that  certain  members  of 
the  Jones  expedition  were  so  deeply  interested  in  what  they 
saw  that  they  made  request  for  immediate  return.  So, 
October  18,  1876,  there  started  southward,  from  Salt  Lake, 
at  the  direction  of  the  Church  Presidency,  another  expedi- 
tion, in  character  missionary,  rather  than  for  exploration. 
It  embraced  Helaman  Pratt,  Jas.  Z.  Stewart,  Isaac  J. 
Stewart,  Louis  Garff  and  George  Terry.  Meliton  G.  Trejo 
joined  at  Richfield.  Phoenix  was  reached  December  23, 
there  being  found  several  families  of  the  Church  who  had 
come  the  previous  year.  The  day  the  missionaries  arrived 
happened  to  be  exactly  thirty  years  after  the  date  on  which 
the  Mormon  Battalion  passed  the  Pima  villages  on  the 
Gila  River,  just  south  of  Phoenix.  The  members  of  the 
party  worked  all  over  southern  Arizona,  especially  among 
the  Mexicans  and  Indians. 

In  February  of  1877  headquarters  were  at  Tubac.    In 

199 


April,  after  a  Mexican  trip,  a  letter  was  received  from 
President  Brigham  Young  asking  that  Sonora  be  explored 
as  a  country  for  possible  settlement.  Later  in  May  the 
Stewarts  started  eastward,  in  continuing  danger  from  hos- 
tile Apaches  after  they  had  crossed  the  San  Pedro.  On  the 
road,  while  the  missionaries  were  passing,  a  mail  rider  was 
killed.  At  Camp  Bowie  the  Apaches  were  found  beleaguer- 
ing the  post.  East  of  that  point  the  Stewarts  had  to  replace 
a  wagon  tire  just  as  they  were  passing  a  point  of  Apache 
ambush.  Return  to  Utah  was  in  December,  1877.  It 
was  concluded  that  border  settlements  better  had  wait  on 
Indian  pacification. 

Trejo  was  a  remarkable  character.  He  was  of  aristo- 
cratic Castilian  birth  and  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Spanish 
army  in  the  Philippines.  It  would  appear  that  he  became 
interested  in  the  Mormon  doctrine,  which,  in  some  manner, 
had  reached  that  far  around  the  earth,  and  that  he  resigned 
his  commission  and  straightway  went  to  Utah.  There  his 
knowledge  of  Spanish,  backed  by  good  general  schooling, 
made  him  valuable  as  a  translator,  though  his  EngUsh  was 
learned  in  the  Jones  family.  His  later  work  was  in  Arizona 
and  Mexico,  as  a  missionary,  his  home  in  1878  moved  to 
Saint  David  on  the  San  Pedro,  where  he  died  a  few  years 
ago.  He  was  a  fluent  writer  and  sent  many  interesting 
letters  to  the  Deseret  News.  In  January,  1878,  he  wrote 
from  Hayden's  Ferry: 

We  are  now  between  the  Salt  and  Gila  Rivers,  on  a  very  extensive 
rich  plain,  covered  with  trees  and  small  brush,  watered  in  some  places 
by  means  of  canals  from  the  two  rivers  named.  The  river  dams 
and  canals  are  very  easy  made,  on  account  of  the  solid  bottoms  of  the 
rivers  and  pure  farming  clay  of  the  plain.  In  fact,  the  people  who  are 
now  living  here  find  it  very  easy  to  get  good  farms  in  one  or  two  years 
without  much  hard  labor.  They  unite  as  we  do  in  making  canals. 
The  climate  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  in  the  world  and  until  a  few 
years  ago,  one  of  the  most  healthy  too,  but  lately  the  people  have 
been  troubled  with  fevers,  which  nobody  seems  to  know  the  cause. 
The  water  is  good  and  the  sky  is  clear,  there  being  no  stagnant  pools; 
the  ground  is  dry  and  the  winds  blow  freely  in  every  direction.     I 

200 


don't  believe  these  fevers  are  naturally  in  the  country,  but  are  caused 
by  the  people  not  taking  proper  care  of  themselves. 

An  interesting  letter  has  been  found,  dated  at  Tubac, 
March  4,  1877,  addressed  to  President  Brigham  Young  and 
written  by  Elder  Jas.  Z.  Stewart.  It  told  that  the  country- 
is  "better  than  the  north  part  of  the  Territory,  from  the 
fact  that  the  land  is  as  good,  if  not  better,  the  water  is  good 
and  regular  and  the  climate  more  pleasant."  He  referred 
to  the  ruins  of  whole  towns,  to  the  rich  mines,  to  the 
abundance  of  game  and  to  the  drawback  of  Apache  raids. 
He  described  the  southern  Arizona  Mexicans  as  "all  very 
poor,  having  no  cows,  horses,  houses  nor  lands  and  but 
very  little  to  live  on.  Though  they  live  for  days  on  parched 
corn,  they  are  willing  to  divide  their  last  meal  with  a 
stranger.  They  are  industrious,  but  ignorant,  it  being 
seldom  you  can  find  one  who  can  write." 

Start  of  the  Lehi  Community 

The  reports  from  the  south  gave  ample  encouragement 
to  expansion  ideas  within  the  First  Presidency.  So,  after 
due  deliberation,  was  organized  another  Jones  expedition 
for  the  settlement  of  the  land. 

As  letters  of  the  time  are  read  and  instructions  found, 
it  becomes  the  more  evident  that  President  Brigham  Young 
and  his  counselors  had  in  view  a  great  plan  of  occupation 
of  the  intermountain  valleys,  reaching  down  into  Mexico, 
or  beyond.  It  was  a  time  when  the  Church  was  growing 
very  rapidly  and  when  new  lands  were  needed  for  converts 
who  were  streaming  in  from  Europe  or  from  the  eastern 
States.  Logically,  the  expansion  would  be  southward, 
though  there  was  disadvantage  of  very  serious  sort  in  the 
breaking  of  continuity  of  settlement  by  the  Grand  Canyon 
of  the  Colorado  River  and  by  the  deserts  that  had  to  be 
passed  to  reach  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  southland. 

When  the  second  Jones  party  started,  according  to  an 
official  account,  "President  Young  sat  with  a  large  map  of 
Ameiica  before  him,  while  saying  that  the  company  of  mis- 

201 


3 


AA<^,      ^-r 


W".-.v.v:"JiiiAJJsf:::ST: 


yi/afer-  Ditch 


PUBLIC  S^UMtl 


w 


^VtLIC  S9UIUII 


-..V'Ofr.caii:::::  AfAJJ^^'-'S-T^ '-'-'"■■'■  -  -  ^ 


rk 


/i  O  A  D 


iVatcr       Ditch 


GROUND  PLAN  OF  LEHI 


202 


sionaries  called  were  to  push  ahead  as  far  as  possible  toward 
the  Yaqui  country  in  Mexico,  which  would  finally  be  the 
objective  point;  but  if  they  could  not  reach  that  country 
they  might  locate  on  the  San  Pedro  or  Salt  River  in  south- 
ern Arizona." 

In  either  case  there  would  be  a  station  on  the  road,  or 
a  stepping  stone  to  those  who  later  would  go  on  to  the  far 
south.  President  Young  also  said  to  the  brethren  on  that 
occasion  that  if  they  would  do  what  was  right  and  be 
guided  by  the  spirit  of  inspiration,  they  would  know  the 
country  as  they  passed  through,  and  would  know  where  to 
locate,  the  same  as  did  the  Pioneers  when  they  first  reached 
the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake. 

The  pioneering  expedition  was  organized  in  St.  George, 
in  southwestern  Utah.  In  the  party  were  83  individuals, 
the  family  heads  being  Jones,  Philemon  C.  Merrill,  Dudley 
J.  Merrill,  Thomas  Merrill,  Adelbert  Merrill,  Henry  C. 
Rogers,  George  Steele,  Thomas  Biggs,  Ross  R.  Rogers, 
John  D.  Brady,  Joseph  McRae,  Isaac  Turley  and  Austin 
O.  Williams. 

Start  was  made  January  17,  1877.  The  way  was  through 
Beaver  Dams  to  the  mouth  of  the  Virgin.  That  profiteer- 
ing was  not  unknown  in  those  early  days  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  expedition,  at  Stone^s  Ferry  on  the  Colorado, 
had  to  pay  ferriage  of  SIO  per  wagon.  Much  of  this  cost 
was  borne  by  Joseph  McRae,  who  turned  over  one  wagon, 
some  horses  and  a  little  money  to  the  ferryman. 

To  the  southward  was  found  a  road,  well-traveled  in 
those  days,  that  led  from  the  Fort  Mohave  ferry  to  Pres- 
cott.  But  Prescott,  then  the  capital,  was  left  to  one  side  and 
a  direct  route  was  taken  from  Chino  Valley,  through  Peeples 
Valley  and  Wickenburg,  to  Phoenix.  At  the  latter  point 
there  was  agreement  that  the  travelers  had  about  reached 
the  limit  of  their  resources  and  of  the  strength  of  their 
horses.  There  was  remembrance  of  the  valley  section  of 
which  Winchester  Miller  had  told.     So  determination  to 


203 


stop  was  reached  in  a  council  of  the  leaders.  There  was  fear, 
apparently  well  grounded,  that  claim  jumpers  would  cause 
trouble  if  the  destination  of  the  party  became  known.  On 
this  account,  departure  from  Phoenix  was  not  by  way  of 
Hayden's  Ferry,  but  by  the  McDowell  road,  as  far  as 
Maryville,  an  abandoned  military  subpost  and  station  on 
Salt  River,  at  the  Maricopa  Wells-McDowell  road  ford. 
Here  the  river  was  crossed,  and  the  weary  immigrants  were 
at  their  journey's  end.  The  day  was  March  6,  1877.  The 
camp  was  at  the  site  of  the  canal  head,  the  settlement  later 
placed  a  few  miles  below. 

Henry  C.  Rogers  took  charge  of  the  construction  of  the 
ditch,  started  the  day  after  arrival.  Ross  R.  Rogers  was  the 
engineer.  His  only  instruments  were  a  straight  edge  and  a 
spirit  level.  This  still  is  known  as  the  Utah  ditch.  Its  first 
cost  was  $4500.  There  was  the  planting  of  a  nursery  by 
George  Steele,  the  trees  kept  alive  by  hauling  water  to 
them.  Jones  wrote  to  Salt  Lake  that  Salt  River  was  at 
least  four  times  as  big  as  the  Provo  and  had  to  be  tapped 
through  deep  cuts,  as  the  channel  was  "too  expensive  to 
dam." 

Sunday,  May  20,  1877,  Jones  baptized  his  first  Indians 
in  Salt  River,  four  of  the  "Lamanites"  being  immersed. 
In  July,  1877,  Fort  Utah  was  located  as  a  place  of  protec- 
tion. It  was  built  upon  the  cross  line  of  four  quarter- 
sections  of  land,  enclosed  with  an  adobe  wall,  and  with  a 
well,  on  the  inside,  25  feet  deep.  The  families  lived  there 
while  the  men  went  out  to  work. 

President  Young  soon  wrote  Jones  in  a  vein  indicating 
that  the  stop  on  Salt  River  was  considered  merely  a  camp 
on  the  way  still  farther  southward,  saying: 

We  should  also  like  to  know  what  your  intentions  are  with  regard 
to  settling  the  region  for  which  you  originally  started.  We  do  not 
deem  it  prudent  for  you  to  break  up  your  present  location,  but,  pos- 
sibly next  fall,  you  will  find  it  consistent  to  continue  your  journey 
with  a  portion  of  those  who  are  now  with  you,  while  others  will  come 
and  occupy  the  places  vacated  by  you.     We  do  not,  however,  wish 

204 


o         ^ 
§        X 


THE  FIRST  EXPEDITION  INTO  MEXICO 


Wiley  C.  Jones 
Heleman  Pratt 


D.  W.  Jones 


A.  W.  Ivins 

Jas.  Z.  Stewart 


THE    SECOND    PARTY    SENT    TO    MEXICO 

1— Jas.  Z.  Stewart  2— Meliton  G.  Trejo 

3 — George  Terry  4 — Isaac  J.  Stewart  5 — Heleman  Pratt 


you  to  get  the  idea  from  the  above  remarks  that  we  desire  to  hurry 
you  away  from  where  you  are  now,  or  to  enforce  a  settlement  in  the 
district  to  which  you  refer,  until  it  is  safe  to  do  so  and  free  from  the 
dangers  of  Indian  diflSculties;  but  we  regard  it  as  one  of  the  spots 
where  the  Saints  will,  sooner  or  later,  gather  to  build  up  Zion,  and 
we  feel  the  sooner  the  better. 

Transformation  Wrought  at  Camp  Utah 

The  newcomers  found  pioneering  conditions  very  harsh 
indeed,  for  it  is  a  full  man's  task  to  clear  away  mesquite  and 
brush  and  to  dig  a  deep  canal.  Joseph  A.  McRae  made 
special  reference  to  the  heat,  to  which  the  Utah  settlers 
were  unaccustomed.  He  wrote,  "as  summer  advanced,  I 
often  saturated  my  clothing  with  water  before  starting  to 
hoe  a  row  of  corn  forty  rods  long,  and  before  reaching  the 
end  my  clothes  were  entirely  dry."  But  there  was  raised 
an  abundance  of  corn,  sugar  cane,  melons  and  vegetables, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  heat,  the  health  of  the  people  was 
excellent. 

Concerning  the  early  Jonesville,  a  coriespondent  of  the 
Prescott  Miner  wrote: 

The  work  done  by  these  people  is  simply  astounding,  and  the 
alacrity  and  vim  with  which  they  go  at  it  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  co- 
operation or  communism.  Irrespective  of  capital  invested,  all  share 
equally  in  the  returns.  The  main  canal  is  two  and  a  half  miles  long, 
eight  feet  deep,  and  eight  feet  wide.  Two  miles  of  small  ditch  are 
completed  and  four  more  are  required.  Their  diagram  of  the  settle- 
ment, £us  it  is  to  be,  represents  a  mile  square  enclosed  by  an  adobe 
wall  about  seven  feet  high.  In  the  center  is  a  square,  or  plaza,  around 
which  are  buildings  fronting  outward.  The  middle  of  the  plaza 
represents  the  back  yards,  in  which  eleven  families,  or  eighty-five 
persons  are  to  commingle.     They  are  intelligent,  and  all  Americans. 

The  settlers,  with  their  missionary  turn  of  mind,  were 
pleased  to  find  the  Indians  of  southern  Arizona  friendly  and 
even  incUned  to  be  helpful.  One  chief  offered  to  loan  the 
settlers  seed  corn  and  wheat.  The  Indians  gathered  around 
to  Usten  to  whatever  discourse  the  Saints  should  offer,  the 
latter,  at  the  same  time  energetically  wielding  shovels  on 
a  canal  that  "simply  had"  to  be  built  in  a  given  time. 

205 


An  appreciated  feature  was  that  Salt  River  abounded 
in  fish,  supplementing  very  acceptably  the  plain  diet  on 
which  the  pioneers  had  been  subsisting.  Possibly  it  was  as 
well  that  the  Saints  had  rules  against  the  use  of  table 
luxuries.  One  pioneer  of  the  Lehi  settlement  told  how  his 
family  had  lived  for  weeks  almost  entirely  upon  wheat, 
which  had  been  ground  in  a  coffee  mill  and  then  cooked 
into  mush,  to  be  eaten  with  milk.  "We  thought  ourselves 
mighty  fortunate  to  have  the  milk,"  he  said. 

Soon  after  the  settlement  of  Camp  Utah,  Jones' 
methods  of  administration  excited  keen  opposition  among 
the  brethren.  There  was  special  objection  to  his  plan  that 
the  settlement  should  receive  Indians  on  a  footing  of 
equahty,  this  being  defended  as  a  method  that  assuredly 
would  tend  toward  the  conversion  of  the  Lamanites  speedily 
and  effectively. 

Jones  was  fair  in  his  statement  of  the  matter,  and  hence 
special  interest  attaches  to  his  own  story  of  the  earliest  days 
of  the  settlement: 

We  commenced  on  the  ditch  March  7,  1877.  All  hands  worked 
with  a  will.  Part  of  the  company  moved  down  on  to  lands  located 
for  settlements.  Most  of  the  able-bodied  men  formed  a  working  camp 
near  the  head  of  the  ditch,  where  a  deep  cut  had  to  be  made. 

We  hired  considerable  help  when  we  could  procure  it,  for  such 
pay  as  we  could  command,  as  scrub  ponies,  "Hayden  scrip,"  etc.  Among 
those  employed  were  a  number  of  Indians,  Pimas,  Maricopas,  Paga- 
gos,  Yumas,  Yaquis  and  one  or  two  Apache-Mohaves.  The  most 
of  them  were  good  workers. 

Some  of  the  Indians  expressed  a  desire  to  come  and  settle  with 
us.  This  was  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  mission  to  me,  and 
I  naturally  supposed  that  all  the  company  felt  the  same  spirit,  but 
I  soon  found  my  mistake,  for,  on  making  this  desire  of  the  Indians 
known  to  the  company,  many  objected,  some  saying  that  they  did  not 
want  their  families  brought  into  association  with  these  dirty  Indians. 
So  little  interest  was  manifested  by  the  company  that  I  made  the 
mistake  of  jumping  at  the  conclusion  that  I  would  have  to  go  ahead 
whether  I  was  backed  up  or  not.  I  learned  afterward  that  if  I  had 
been  more  patient  and  faithful,  I  would  have  had  more  help,  but 
at  the  time  I  acted  according  to  the  best  light  I  had  and  determined 
to  stick  to  the  Indians. 

206 


This  spirit  manifested  to  the  company  showing  a  preference  to 
the  natives,  naturally  created  a  prejudice  against  me.  Soon  dis- 
satisfaction commenced  to  show.  The  result  was  that  most  of  the 
company  left  and  went  on  to  the  San  Pedro,  in  southern  Arizona,  led 
by  P.  C.  Merrill.  After  this  move,  there  being  but  four  families  left, 
and  one  of  these  soon  leaving,  our  little  colony  was  quite  weak. 

Departure  of  the  Merrill  Party 

It  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  settlement  when  the  Merrill 
company  departed,  in  August,  1877,  leaving  only  the  Jones, 
Biggs,  Rogers  and  Turley  families.  Nearly  all  the  teams 
available  went  with  the  Merrills,  thus  delaying  comple- 
tion of  the  canal,  which  at  that  time  had  reached  the 
settlement.  The  fort  also  was  left  in  an  incomplete  state. 
The  few  left  behind  mainly  were  employed  by  Chas.  T. 
Hay  den  of  Tempe,  who  was  described  as,  "so  very  kind  to 
the  brethren  and  their  families,  giving  them  work  and 
furnishing  them  with  means  in  advance,  on  credit,  so  that 
they  might  subsist." 

A  very  interesting  item  in  a  letter  written  by  Jones  is: 

This  country  is  so  productive  and  easy  of  cultivation,  but,  not- 
withstanding, this  colony  was  too  poor  at  seed  time  to  buy  a  common 
plow.  From  present  prospects,  we  hope  to  be  able  to  save  up  and  have 
enough  for  seed  and  plow  the  coming  season.  You  speak  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  using  a  crooked  stick  for  plowing;  if  you  will  call  down 
here  soon,  we  can  show  you  some  300  acres  of  good  wheat  patch  plowed 
by  our  colony  with  a  crooked  stick  plow,  without  so  much  as  a  ram's 
horn  point. 

Probably  Jones  included  a  part  of  the  holdings  of  his 
Indian  wards  in  this  demonstration  of  primeval  agriculture. 
For  years  following  the  advent  of  the  white  man,  the  Pima 
Indians  habitually  plowed  by  means  of  a  crooked  mesquite 
stick,  connected  by  a  rope  to  a  pole,  tied  firmly  across  the 
horns  of  a  couple  of  oxen. 

Whatever  the  dissension  between  Jones  and  the  other 
pioneers,  he  appeared  at  all  times  to  have  been  popular  with 
his  Indian  wards.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  to  the 
north  of  Lehi  is  a  thriving  Pima-Papago  Mormon  settle- 
ment, known  as  Papago  ward.    Dan  P.  Jones  followed  his 

207 


father  in  its  administration.  A  few  years  ago  it  had  a 
population  of  590  Indians,  mainly  Pimas,  and  of  four  white 
families,  headed  by  Geo.  F.  Tiffany,  with  an  Indian  coun- 
selor, Incarnacion  Valenzuela.  This  counselor  has  been 
described  by  Historian  Jenson  as  "one  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent Indians  I  have  ever  met.  He  speaks  Spanish  fluently, 
as  well  as  the  Papago  and  Pima  language;  he  also  under- 
stands English,  but  does  not  like  to  speak  it."  Henry  C. 
Rogers  also  was  a  successful  Indian  missionary.  Tiffany's 
son  now  is  in  charge  of  the  Lehi  Indians. 

Besides  the  Indians  directly  belonging  to  the  ward,  is 
a  record  of  1500  baptized  Mormon  Indians,  mainly  Papago, 
in  the  desert  region  to  the  southward,  as  far  as  the  Mexican 
line. 

Sunday  schools  and  meetings  are  held  in  the  Papago 
ward  schoolhouse,  built  a  few  years  ago.  The  Indians  farm 
and  raise  stock;  some  of  them  live  in  good  houses  and  all 
are  learning  the  habits  and  ways  of  their  neighbors,  who 
have  been  their  friends  from  the  beginning, 

Jones  was  charged  by  the  people  of  Phoenix  and  Tempe 
with  protection  of  Indians  who  had  trespassed  upon  crops. 
He  was  warned  by  the  Indian  agent  at  Sacaton  that  he  must 
cease  his  proselyting,  a  warning  he  calmly  ignored.  He 
seemed  to  have  had  assistance  generallj^  from  the  military 
authorities  at  Camp  McDowell,  about  fifteen  miles  north- 
ward, for  a  time  commanded  by  Capt.  Adna  R.  Chaffee, 
Sixth  Cavalry.  Trouble  was  known  with  Pima  Indians, 
who  lived  across  the  river,  where  they  had  been  placed  a 
few  years  before  by  Tempe  settlers,  as  a  possible  buffer 
against  Apache  raids.  This  reservation's  extension  cost  Lehi 
several  sections  of  land. 

Altogether,  Jones'  life  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  was  not 
an  easy  one.  Finally  he  joined  a  community  in  northern 
Tonto  Basin,  where  his  wife  and  youngest  child  were  killed 
by  accident.  After  that  he  moved  to  Tempe.  Thereafter 
he  went  to  Mexico,  where  he  had  mining  experience.    In 

208 


the  winter  of  1884,  he  helped  Erastus  Snow  and  Samuel  H. 
Hill  to  cross  the  border  at  El  Paso.  His  latter  days  mainly 
were  spent  in  Utah  and  California.  Early  in  1915  he  re- 
turned to  Arizona.  His  death  occurred  April  20  of  that 
year,  at  the  Mesa  home  of  a  son.  His  life  work  is  well  set 
out  in  a  book  written  by  himself  and  published  in  1890. 
The  descendants  of  the  sturdy  old  pioneer  are  many  in 
southern  Arizona  and  numbers  of  them  have  occupied 
responsible  office  with  credit.  A  son,  Dan.  P.  Jones  of  Mesa, 
is  a  member  of  the  current  Legislature.  Other  sons  and 
grandsons  have  been  prominent  especially  in  educational 
work. 

Lehi's  Later  Development 

Lehi  now  is  a  thriving  settlement  in  bottom  lands  along 
Salt  River,  where  growth  necessarily  is  limited.  Its  school- 
house  is  about  three  miles  north  of  Mesa,  which  has  made 
by  far  the  greater  growth.  First  known  as  Camp  Utah,  or 
Utahville,  for  years  it  was  called  Jonesville,  but  finally  the 
postoffice  name  of  Lehi,  suggested  by  Apostle  Brigham 
Young,  Jr.,  has  firmly  attached. 

The  first  Mormon  marriage  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  was 
at  Lehi,  that  of  Daniel  P.  Jones  and  Mary  E.  Merrill, 
August  26,  1877.  The  first  birth  was  of  their  son.  The  first 
permanent  separate  house,  of  adobe,  at  Lehi,  was  built  by 
Thomas  Biggs,  in  the  spring  of  1878.  There  was  a  pubHc 
school  as  early  as  1878,  taught  by  Miss  Zula  Pomeroy.  In 
1880  an  adobe  schoolhouse  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $142,  the 
ground  donated  by  Henry  C.  Rogers,  with  David  Kimball 
its  main  supporter.  The  following  year  was  built  a  much 
better  schoolhouse. 

The  settlement  has  a  townsite  of  six  blocks,  each  26 
rods  square,  with  streets  four  rods  wide,  surveyed  in 
November,  1880,  by  Henry  C.  Rogers. 

Lehi  was  badly  damaged  February  19,  1891,  when  Salt 
River  reached  a  height  never  known  before  or  since.  The 
stream  flooded  the  lower  parts  of  Phoenix  and  inundated  a 

209 


large  part  of  the  farming  land  at  Lehi.  A  second  flood,  a 
few  days  later,  was  three  feet  higher  than  the  first.  Five 
Lehi  Indians  were  drowned  and  several  hundred  of  them 
lost  their  possessions. 


210 


Chapter  Nineteen 


®i{g  f  lattttng  of  ^sa 

Transformation  of  a  Desert  Plain 

Though  by  no  means  with  exclusive  population  of  the 
faith,  Mesa,  sixteen  miles  east  of  Phoenix  and  in  the  Salt 
River  Valley,  today  includes  the  largest  organization  of  the 
Saints  within  Arizona  and  is  the  center  of  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  Stakes  of  the  Church.  It  is  beautifully  located 
on  a  broad  tableland,  from  which  its  Spanish  name  is 
derived,  and  is  the  center  of  one  of  the  richest  of  farming 
communities.  In  general,  the  soil  is  of  the  best,  without 
alkali,  and  its  products  cover  almost  anything  that  can  be 
grown  in  the  temperate  or  semi-tropic  zones. 

At  all  times  since  its  settlement,  Mesa  has  prospered, 
but  its  prosperity  has  been  especially  notable  since  the 
development,  a  few  years  ago,  of  the  Pima  long-staple 
cotton.  Nearly  every  landowner,  and  Mesa  is  a  settlement 
of  landowners,  has  prospered  through  this  industry,  though 
it  has  been  affected  by  the  post-war  depression.  The  region 
is  one  of  comfortable,  spacious  homes  and  of  well-tilled 
farms,  with  less  acreage  to  each  holding  than  known  else- 
where in  the  valley. 

Mesa  is  second  only  to  Phoenix  in  size  and  importance 
within  Maricopa  County.  There  are  fine  business  blocks 
and  all  evidences  of  mercantile  activity.  The  farming  area 
is  being  extended  immensely.  The  community  was  one  of 
the  first  to  enter  the  association  that  secured  storage  of 
water  at  Roosevelt.  Thereafter,  to  the  southward  came 
extension  of  the  farming  area  by  means  of  pumping,  this 
continuing  nearly  to  the  Gila  River,  out  upon  the  Pima 

211 


reservation.  Now  there  is  further  extension  eastward,  and 
the  great  plain  that  stretches  as  far  as  Florence  is  being 
settled  by  population  very  generally  .tributary  to  Mesa. 
It  would  be  idle  to  speculate  upon  the  future  of  the  city, 
but  its  tributary  farming  country  is  fully  as  great  as  that 
which  surrounds  Phoenix. 

Mesa  was  founded  by  Latter-day  Saints  from  Bear  Lake 
County,  Idaho,  and  Salt  Lake  County,  Utah.  The  former 
left  Paris,  Idaho,  September  14,  1877,  were  joined  at  Salt 
Lake  City  by  the  others  and  traveled  the  entire  distance 
by  wagon,  using  the  Lee's  Ferry  route,  and  coming  over 
the  forested  country  to  Camp  Verde. 

The  immigrants  included,  with  their  families,  Chas.  I. 
Robson,  Charles  Crismon  (of  the  San  Bernardino  colony) 
of  Salt  Lake,  Geo.  W.  Sirrine  (of  the  Brooklyn  ship  party), 
Francis  M.  Pomeroy  (a  '47  pioneer),  John  H.  Pomeroy, 
Warren  L.  Sirrine,  Elijah  Pomeroy,  Parley  P.  Sirrine,  all 
of  Paris,  Idaho,  Wm.  M.  Newell,  Wm.  M.  Schwartz,  Job 
H.  Smith,  Jesse  D.  Hobson  and  J.  H.  Blair  of  Salt  Lake. 
Altogether  were  83  individuals. 

The  valley  of  the  Verde  proved  a  pleasant  one,  after 
the  cold  and  hardship  known  on  the  plateau,  though  Christ- 
mas was  spent  in  a  snowstorm.  Both  humanity  and  the 
horses  needed  rest.  So  camp  was  made  at  Beaver  Head,  a 
few  miles  from  the  river,  while  a  scouting  party  went  far- 
ther to  spy  out  the  land.  This  party,  which  went  by  wagon, 
included  Robson,  F-  M.  Pomeroy,  Charles  Crismon  and 
G.  W.  Sirrine. 

The  scouts,  within  a  few  days,  had  covered  about  125 
miles  that  lay  between  Beaver  Head  and  Camp  Utah. 
Their  New  Year  dinner  was  taken  with  Jones,  who  extended 
them  all  welcome.  It  was  proposed  that  the  newcomers 
settle  upon  land  adjoining  that  of  the  first  party,  but  there 
was  a  likelihood  of  crowding  in  the  relatively  narrow  river 
valley,  and  there  were  attractive  possibiUties  lying  along 
the  remains  of  an  ancient  canal  shown  them  by  Jones. 


212 


ORIGIXAL  LEHI  L(JCATORS 


1 — Daniel    W.   Jones 
3 — Thomas    Biggs 


2 — Philemon    C.    Merrill 
4 — Henry   C.   Rogers 


Legal  appropriation  of  the  head  of  this  old  water  way  was 
made  and  Crismon  was  left  behind,  with  a  couple  of  the 
Camp  Utah  men  as  helpers,  to  start  work  on  the  new 
irrigation  project.  Incidentally,  Crismon  made  location  of 
land  near  the  heading  and  thus  separated  his  interests  from 
those  of  the  main  party.  Later,  he  started  a  water-power 
grist  mill  on  the  Grand  canal,  east  of  Phoenix.  He  had 
rights  to  a  large  share  in  the  canal,  as  well  as  to  lands  on 
the  mesa.   These  he  later  sold. 

Robson,  Pomeroy  and  Sirrine  returned  to  the  Verde 
Valley,  to  pilot  the  rested  travelers  southward.  The  journey 
was  by  way  of  the  rocky  Black  Canyon  road,  with  difficulty 
encountered  in  descending  the  steep  Arastra  Creek  pass. 
Fording  Salt  River  at  Hayden's  Ferry,  Camp  Utah  was 
reached  February  14,  1878.  The  journey  had  been  a  slow 
one,  for  cattle  had  to  be  driven. 

A  few  days  were  spent  at  Camp  Utah  and  then  the  new 
arrivals  moved  upstream  five  miles,  where  tents  were 
pitched  on  a  pleasant  flat,  a  couple  of  miles  below  the  canal 
heading.  There  had  been  conclusion  to  settle  upon  the  table- 
land to  the  southwest.  Pomeroy  and  Sirrine  made  a  rough, 
though  sufficient,  survey  with  straight-edge  and  spirit  level, 
along  what  then  was  named  the  "Montezuma  Canal," 
eleven  miles  to  a  point  where  a  townsite  was  selected. 

Use  of  a  Prehistoric  Canal 

Nothing  short  of  Providential  was  considered  the  find- 
ing of  the  canal,  dug  by  a  prehistoric  people  into  the  edge  of 
the  mesa,  which  it  gradually  surmounted.  This  canal,  in 
all  probabiUty,  had  been  cut  more  than  1000  years  before. 
It  could  be  traced  from  the  river  for  twenty  miles,  main- 
taining an  even  gradient,  possibly  as  good  as  could  have  been 
laid  out  with  a  modern  level,  and  with  a  number  of  laterals 
that  spread  over  a  country  about  as  extensively  cultivated 
as  at  present.  A  lateral  served  the  Lehi  section  and  other 
ditches  conducted  water  to  the  southwest,  past  the  famous 
ancient  city  of  Los  Muertos  (later  explored  by  Frank  H. 

213 


Gushing)  and  then  around  the  southeastern  foothills  of  the 
Salt  River  Mountains  to  points  not  far  distant  from  the 
Gila  River.  The  main  canal  cut  through  the  tableland  for 
two  miles,  with  a  top  width  of  even  fifty  feet  and  a  depth 
of  twelve  feet,  chopped  out  in  places,  with  stone  axes, 
through  a  difficult  formation  of  hardpan,  "caliche."  The 
old  canal  was  cleaned  out  for  the  necessities  of  the  pioneers, 
at  a  cost  of  about  $48,000,  including  the  head,  and  after- 
ward was  enlarged.  At  the  time,  there  was  an  estimate  that 
its  utilization  saved  at  least  $20,000  in  cost  of  excavation. 
There  were  123  miles  of  these  ancient  canals. 

This  canal  undertaking  was  a  tremendous  one,  especial- 
ly in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  for  the  first  five  months 
the  Mesa  settlers  available  for  work  were  only  eighteen 
able-bodied  men  and  boys.  The  brethren  were  hardly 
strong  enough  in  man  power  to  have  dug  the  canal  had  it 
not  been  for  the  old  channel.  A  small  stream  was  led  to 
the  townsite  in  October,  1878,  and  in  the  same  month 
building  construction  was  begun.     An  early  settler  wrote: 

We  were  about  nine  months  in  getting  a  small  stream  of  water 
out  at  an  expense  of  $43,000  in  money  and  labor,  so  that  we  could 
plant  gardens  and  set  out  some  fruit  trees.  A  man  was  allowed  $1.50 
and  a  man  and  team  $3  per  day  for  labor.  Our  ditch  ran  through  some 
formation  that  would  slack  up  like  lime;  and  as  whole  sections  of  it 
would  slide,  it  kept  us  busy  nearly  all  the  time  the  following  year 
enlarging  and  repairing  the  canal.  Our  labors  only  lessened  as  our 
numbers  increased,  and  the  banks  became  more  solid,  so  that  today 
(1894)  we  have  a  good  canal  carrying  about  7000  inches  of  water. 

It  would  appear  that  a  tremendous  amount  of  optimism, 
energy  and  self-reliance  lay  in  the  leaders  of  the  small  com- 
munity, in  digging  through  the  bank  of  a  stubborn  cHff,  in 
throwing  a  rude  dam  across  a  great  flood  stream  and  in 
planting  their  homes  far  out  on  a  plain  that  bore  little 
evidence  of  agricultural  possibilities,  beyond  a  growth  of 
creosote  bush,  the  Larrea  Mexicana.  There  were  easier 
places  where  settlements  might  have  been  made,  at  Lehi  or 
Tempe,  or  upon  the  smaller  streams,  but  there  must  have 

214 


been  a  vision  rather  broader  than  that  of  the  original 
immigrant,  a  vision  that  later  has  merged  into  reaUty  far 
larger  and  richer  than  had  been  the  dream. 

Within  this  prosperity  are  included  hundreds  of  Mor- 
mon pioneers  and  their  children.  It  often  is  said  that  the 
development  of  a  country  is  by  the  "breaking"  of  from  three 
to  four  sets  of  immigrants.  It  is  not  true  of  Mesa,  for  there 
the  original  settlers  and  their  stock  generally  still  hold  to 
the  land. 

Moving  Upon  the  Mesa  Townsite 

The  honor  of  erection  of  the  first  home  upon  the  mesa 
lies  with  the  Pomeroy  family,  though  it  was  hardly  con- 
sidered as  a  house.  Logs  and  timbers  were  hauled  from  the 
abandoned  Maryville,  an  outpost  of  Fort  McDowell,  at  the 
river  crossing  northeast  of  Fort  Utah.  It  was  erected 
Mexican  fashion,  the  roof  supported  on  stout  poles,  and 
then  mudded  walls  were  built  up  on  arrowweed  latticing. 
This  Pomeroy  residence  later  was  used  as  the  first  meeting- 
house, as  the  first  schoolhouse  and  as  the  first  dance  hall, 
though  its  floor  was  of  packed  earth.  It  might  be  added 
that  there  were  many  dances,  for  the  settlers  were  a  light- 
hearted  lot.  Most  of  the  settlers  re-erected  their  tents, 
each  family  upon  the  lot  that  had  been  assigned. 

The  first  families  on  the  mesa  were  those  of  John  H. 
Pomeroy,  Theodore  Sirrine  and  Chas.  H.  Mallory.  The 
Mallory  and  Sirrine  homes  quickly  were  started.  Mallory's, 
the  first  adobe,  was  torn  down  early  in  1921. 

By  the  end  of  November,  1878,  all  the  families  had 
moved  from  the  river  camp  upon  the  new  townsite. 

Early  arrivals  included  a  strong  party  from  Montpelier, 
Bear  Lake  County,  Idaho,  the  family  heads  John  Hibbert, 
Hyrum  S.  Phelps,  Charles  C.  Dana,  John  T.  Lesueur, 
William  Lesueur,  John  Davis,  Geo.  C.  Dana  and  Charles 
Warner.  Others,  with  their  families,  were  Charles  Crismon, 
Jr.,  Joseph  Cain  and  William  Brim  from  the  Salt  Lake 
section.   Nearly  all  of  the  settlers  who  came  in  the  earlier 

215 


days  to  Mesa  were  fairly  well-to-do,  considered  in  a 
frontier  way,  and  were  people  of  education.  Soon,  by  in- 
telligence and  industry,  they  made  the  desert  bloom. 
Canals  were  extended  all  over  the  mesa.  In  1879  was 
gathered  the  first  crop  of  cereals  and  vegetables  and  that 
spring  were  planted  many  fruit  trees,  which  grew  wonder- 
fully well  in  the  rich,  light  soil. 

An  Irrigation  Clash  That  Did  Not  Come 

The  summer  of  1879  was  one  of  the  dryest  ever  re- 
corded. Though  less  than  20,000  acres  were  cultivated  in 
the  entire  valley,  the  crops  around  Phoenix  suffered  for  lack 
of  water.  Salt  River  was  a  dry  sand  expanse  for  five  miles 
below  the  Mesa,  Utah  and  Tempe  canal  headings.  The 
Mormon  water  appropriation  was  blamed  for  this.  So  in 
Phoenix  was  organized  an  armed  expedition  of  at  least 
twenty  farmers,  who  rode  eastward,  prepared  to  fight  for 
their  irrigation  priority  rights.  But  there  was  no  battle. 
Instead,  they  were  met  in  all  mildness  by  Jones  and  others, 
who  agreed  that  priority  rights  should  prevail.  There  was 
inspection  of  the  two  Mormon  ditches,  in  which  less  than 
1000  miners'  inches  were  flowing  and  then  was  agreement 
that  the  two  canal  headgates  should  be  closed  for  three 
days,  to  see  what  effect  this  action  would  have  on  the  lower 
water  supply.  But  the  added  water  merely  was  wasted. 
The  sand  expanse  drank  it  up  and  the  lower  ditches  were 
not  benefited.  There  was  no  more  trouble  over  water 
rights.  Indeed,  this  is  the  only  recorded  approach  to  a  clash 
known  between  the  Mormon  settlers  and  their  neighbors. 

Mesa's  Civic  Administration 

In  May,  1878,  T.  C.  Sirrine  located  in  his  own  name 
the  section  of  land  upon  which  Mesa  City  now  stands, 
thereafter  deeding  it  to  Trustees  C.  I.  Robson,  G.  W.  Sir- 
rine and  F.  M.  Pomeroy,  who  named  it  and  who  platted 
it  into  blocks  of  ten  acres  each,  with  eight  lots,  and  with 
streets  130  feet  mde,  the  survey  being  made  by  A.  M. 

216 


Jones.  Each  settler  for  each  share  worked  out  in  the  Mesa 
canal,  received  four  lots,  or  five  acres.  Two  plazas  were 
provided. 

For  many  years  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  the 
streets  of  Mesa  were  entirely  too  wide,  though  it  had  been 
laid  out  in  loving  remembrance  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the 
question  of  ever  paving  (or  even  of  crossing  on  a  hot  sum- 
mer day)  was  serious.  It  appears  from  latter-day  develop- 
ment that  the  old-timers  builded  wisely,  for  probably  Mesa 
is  alone  in  all  of  Arizona  in  having  plenty  of  room  for  the 
parking  of  automobiles.  The  main  streets  have  been  paved 
at  large  expense.  In  several  has  been  left  very  attractive 
center  parking,  for  either  grass  or  standing  machines. 

Mesa  was  incorporated  July  15,  1883.  The  first  elec- 
tion chose  A.  F.  Macdonald  as  Mayor,  E.  Pomeroy,  G.  W. 
Sirrine,  W.  Passey  and  A.  F.  Stewart  as  Councilmen,  C. 
I.  Robson  as  Recorder,  J.  H.  Carter  as  Treasurer,  H.  C. 
Longmoie  as  Assessor,  W.  Ri chins  as  Marshal,  and  H.  S. 
Phelps  as  Poundkeeper.  All  were  members  of  the  faith, 
for  others  were  very  few  in  Mesa  at  that  time. 

Growth  was  slow  for  a  number  of  years,  for  in  a  city 
census,  taken  January  4,  1894,  there  was  found  population 
of  only  648,  with  an  assessment  valuation  of  $106,000.  The 
1920  census  found  3036. 

Mail  at  first  was  received  at  Hayden's  Ferry.  Soon 
thereafter  was  petition  for  a  postoffice.  The  federal  author- 
ities refused  the  name  of  "Mesa'*  on  the  ground  that  it 
might  be  confused  with  Mesaville,  a  small  office  in  Pinal 
County.  So,  in  honor  of  their  friend  at  the  Ferry,  there  was 
acceptance  of  the  name  Hay  den.  Though  the  Ferry  had 
the  postoffice  name  of  Tempe,  there  ensued  much  mixture 
of  mail  matter.  In  1887,  there  followed  a  change  in  the 
postoffice  name  to  Zenos,  after  a  prophet  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  In  the  order  of  things,  Mesaville  passed  away 
and  then  the  settlement  quickly  availed  itself  of  the 
privilege  opened,  to  restore  the  commonly  accepted  designa- 
tion of  Mesa. 

217 


Foundation  of  Alma 

Alma  is  a  prosperous  western  extension  of  Mesa,  of 
which  it  is  a  fourth  ward.  The  locaUty  at  first,  and  even 
unto  this  day,  has  borne  the  local  name  of  Stringtown, 
for  the  houses  are  set  along  a  beautiful  country  road, 
cottonwood-bordered  for  miles.  The  first  settlers  of  the 
locality  were  Henry  Standage  (a  veteran  of  the  Mormon 
Battahon),  Hyrum  W.  Pugh,  Chauncey  F.  Rogers  and 
Wm.  N.  Standage,  with  their  families.  These  settlers 
constituted  a  party  from  Lewiston  and  Richmond,  Cache 
County,  Utah,  and  arrived  at  Mesa,  January  19,  1880. 
In  that  same  month  they  started  work  on  an  extension  of 
the  Mesa  canal,  soon  thereafter  aided  by  neighbors,  who 
arrived  eaily  in  1881.  There  were  good  crops.  Early  in 
1882  houses  were  erected. 

Highways  Into  the  Mountains 

In  1880,  the  Mesa  authorities  took  steps  to  provide  a 
better  highway  to  Globe,  this  with  the  active  cooperation  of 
their  friend,  Chas.  T.  Hayden.  Globe  was  a  rich  market 
for  agricultural  products,  yet  could  be  reached  only  by  way 
of  Florence  and  the  Cane  Springs  and  Pioneer  road,  over 
the  summit  of  the  Pinal  Mountains,  or  by  way  of  the  almost 
impassable  Reno  Mountain  road  from  McDowell  into  Tonto 
Basin,  a  road  that  was  ridden  in  pain,  but  philosophically, 
by  the  members  of  the  Erastus  Snow  party  that  passed  in 
1878.  The  idea  of  1880  was  to  get  through  the  Pinal 
Mountains,  near  Silver  King.  A  new  part  of  this  route 
now  is  being  taken  by  a  State  road  that  starts  at  Superior, 
cutting  a  shelf  along  the  canyon  side  of  Queen  Creek,  to 
establish  the  shortest  possible  road  between  Mesa  and 
Globe.  The  first  adequate  highway  ever  had  from  Mesa 
eastward  was  the  Roosevelt  road,  later  known  as  the 
Apache  Trail,  built  in  1905  by  the  Reclamation  Service,  to 
connect  the  valley  with  Roosevelt,  which  lies  at  the 
southern  point  of  Tonto  Basin. 

218 


Hayden*s  Ferry,  Latterly  Tempe 

Tempe,  eight  miles  east  of  Phoenix  on  Salt  River,  was 
first  known  as  Hayden's  Ferry.  Its  founder  was  Chas. 
Trumbull  Hayden,  a  pioneer  merchant  who  early  saw  the 
possibiUties  of  development  within  the  Salt  River  Valley 
and  who  built  a  flour  mill  that  still  is  known  by  his  name. 
Arizona's  Congressman,  Carl  Hayden,  is  a  son  of  the 
pioneer  merchant,  miller  and  ferryman.  The  name  of  Tempe 
(from  a  valley  of  ancient  Greece)  is  credited  to  Darrell 
Duppa,  a  cultured  Englishman,  who  is  also  understood  to 
have  named  Phoenix.  It  was  applied  to  Hayden's  Ferry 
and  also  to  a  Mexican  settlement,  something  over  a  half- 
mile  distant,  locally  known  as  San  Pablo. 

Hayden  welcomed  the  advent  of  the  Mormons,  led  to 
the  country  by  Daniel  W.  Jones  in  1877,  and  befriended 
those  who  followed,  thus  materially  assisting  in  the  up- 
building of  the  Lehi  and  Mesa  settlements. 

Tempe,  as  a  Mormon  settlement,  started  July  23,  1882, 
in  the  purchase  by  Benjamin  Franklin  Johnson,  Jos.  E. 
Johnson  and  relatives,  from  Hayden,  of  eighty  acres  of 
land  that  lay  between  the  ferry  and  the  Mexican  town. 
For  this  tract  there  was  paid  $3000.  The  Johnson  party 
left  Spring  Lake,  Utah,  in  April  and  traveled  via  Lee's 
Ferry.  There  was  survey  of  the  property  into  lots  and 
blocks,  and  the  Johnsons  at  once  started  upon  the  building 
of  homes.  There  was  included  also  a  small  cooperative 
store.  The  foundation  was  laid  for  a  meeting  house,  but 
religious  services  usually  were  held  in  a  bowery  or  in  the 
district  schoolhouse  that  had  been  built  before  the  Saints 
came. 

In  the  fall  of  1882  there  arrived  a  number  of  families, 
most  of  them  Johnsons  or  relatives.  When  the  Maricopa 
Stake  was  organized  December  10,  1882,  David  T.  LeBaron 
was  presiding  at  Tempe.  June  15,  1884,  Tempe  was  organ- 
ized as  a  ward,  successively  headed  by  Samuel  Openshaw 
and  Jas.  F.  Johnson. 


219 


In  August,  1887,  most  of  Tempe's  Mormon  residents 
moved  to  Nephi,  west  of  Mesa,  mainly  upon  land  acquired 
by  Benj.  F.  Johnson,  the  settlement  popularly  known  as 
Johnsonville.  The  departure  hinged  upon  the  building  of 
a  branch  railroad  of  the  Southern  Pacific  from  Maricopa, 
through  Tempe,  to  Phoenix.  An  offer  was  made  by  a  newly- 
organized  corporation  for  the  land  that  had  been  taken  by 
the  Johnsons,  who  sold  on  terms  then  considered  advan- 
tageous. Upon  this  land  now  is  located  a  large  part  of  the 
prosperous  town  of  Tempe,  within  which  is  a  considerable 
scattering  of  Mormon  families,  though  without  local 
organization. 

Patriarch  B.  F.  Johnson  died  in  Mesa,  November  18, 
1905,  at  the  age  of  87.  At  that  time  it  was  told  that  his 
descendants  and  those  married  into  the  family  numbered 
1500,  probably  constituting  the  largest  family  within  the 
Church  membership. 

Organization  of  the  Maricopa  Stake 

The  Church  history  of  Mesa  started  October  14,  1878, 
when  Apostle  Erastus  Snow,  on  his  memorable  trip  through 
the  Southwest,  at  Fort  Utah,  appointed  a  late  arrival, 
Jesse  N.  Perkins,  as  presiding  elder  and  H.  C.  Rogers  and 
G.  W.  Sirrine  as  counselors.  Perkins  died  of  smallpox  in 
northeastern  Arizona.  In  1880,  President  John  Taylor  at 
St.  George,  Utah,  appointed  Alexander  F.  Macdonald  to 
preside  over  the  new  stake.  He  arrived  and  took  office 
in  February  of  that  year.  Macdonald  was  a  sturdy,  lengthy 
Scotchman,  a  preacher  of  the  rough  and  ready  sort  and  of 
tremendous  effectiveness,  converted  in  Perth,  in  June, 
1846,  and  a  Salt  Lake  arrival  by  ox  team  in  1854.  In  1882, 
on  permanent  organization  of  the  Stake,  Chas.  I.  Robson 
succeeded  Sirrine  as  counselor.  Robson  December  4, 
1887,  succeeded  to  the  presidency,  with  H.  C.  Rogers  and 
ColUns  R.  Hakes  as  counselors,  Macdonald  taking  up 
leadership  in  the  northern  Mexican  Stakes,  pioneering  work 
of  difficulty  for  which  he  was  especially  well  suited.     In 

220 


MARICOPA  STAKE  PRESIDENTS 


1 — Alexander   F.   Macdona'd 

2 — Chas. 
4 — Jno.   T.    Lesueur 


3 — Collins   R.    Hakes 
Robson 

5 — Jas.   W.   Lesueur 


December,  1884,  he  headed  an  expedition  and  surveying 
party  into  Chihuahua,  Mexico,  looking  for  settlement 
locations,  and  secured  large  landed  interests.  He  became  ill 
at  El  Paso,  on  his  way  back  to  his  home  at  Colonia  Juarez. 
He  died  at  Colonia  Dublan,  thirty  miles  short  of  his 
destination,  March  21,  1903. 

Chas.  I.  Robson  served  as  President  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  February  24,  1894.  He  was  of  English  ancestry, 
born  February  20,  1837,  in  Northumberland.  He  was 
specially  distinguished  in  the  early  days  of  Utah  through 
his  success  in  starting  the  first  paper  factory  known  in 
western  America.  As  a  boy,  he  had  worked  in  a  paper  fac- 
tory in  England.  In  1870,  he  was  warden  of  the  Utah 
penitentiary. 

May  10,  1894,  ColHns  R.  Hakes  (of  the  San  Bernardino 
colony)  succeeded  to  the  presidency  of  Maricopa  Stake, 
with  Henry  C.  Rogers  and  Jas.  F.  Johnson  as  counselors. 
At  that  time  were  five  organized  wards,  with  2446  souls, 
including  1219  Indians  in  the  Papago  ward,  and  to  the 
southward  toward  Mexico.  Mesa  then  was  credited  with 
648  people  of  the  faith,  Lehi  200,  Alma  282  and  Nephi  104. 

In  1905,  President  Hakes  transferred  his  activities  to 
the  development  of  a  new  colony  of  his  people  at  Blue- 
water,  N.  M.,  near  Fort  Wingate.  His  death  was  in  Mesa, 
August  27,  1916. 

To  the  Maricopa  Stake  Presidency,  November  26,  1905, 
succeeded  Jno.  T.  Lesueur,  transferred  from  St.  Johns, 
where,  from  Mesa,  he  settled  in  1880.  He  is  still  a  resident 
of  Mesa.  He  resigned  as  president  in  1912,  the  position 
taken,  on  March  10  of  that  year,  by  his  son,  Jas.  W. 
Lesueur,  who  still  is  in  office. 

December  20,  1898,  first  was  occupied  the  Stake  taber- 
nacle, 75x45  feet  in  size,  built  of  brick  and  costing  $11,000. 
At  its  dedication  were  Apostle  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  and  a 
number  of  other  Church  dignitaries. 


221 


A  Great  Temple  to  Rise  in  Mesa 

For  more  than  a  year  plans  have  been  in  the  making 
for  erection  at  Mesa  of  a  great  temple  of  the  Church,  to 
cost  about  $500,000.  It  is  to  be  the  ninth  of  such  struc- 
tures. The  others,  in  the  order  of  their  dedication,  are  (or 
were):  at  Kirtland,  Ohio,  of  date  1836;  at  Nauvoo,  IlUnois, 
1846;  at  St.  George,  Logan,  Manti  and  Salt  Lake,  Utah, 
and  at  Laie,  Hawaiian  Islands.  Another  is  being  built  at 
Cardston,  Alberta,  Canada.  The  Kirtland  edifice  was 
abandoned.  That  at  Nauvoo  was  wrecked  by  incen- 
diaries in  1848.  The  great  Temple  at  Salt  Lake,  its  site 
located  by  Brigham  Young  four  days  after  his  arrival, 
in  July,  1847,  was  forty  years  in  building  and  its  dedica- 
tion was  not  till  1893. 

Merely  in  the  way  of  explanation,  it  may  be  noted  that 
a  Mormon  temple  is  not  a  house  of  public  worship.  It  is, 
as  was  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  more  of  a  sanctuary,  a 
place  wherein  ecclesiastical  ordinances  may  have  ad- 
ministration. It  has  many  lecture  rooms,  wherein  to  be 
seated  the  classes  under  instruction,  and  there  is  provision 
of  places  for  the  performance  of  the  ordinances  of  baptism, 
marriage,  confirmation,  etc. 

Especially  important  are  considered  the  baptism  and 
blessings  (endowments)  bestowed  vicariously  on  the  living 
for  the  benefit  of  the  dead.  There  also  is  added  solemnity 
in  a  temple  marriage,  for  it  is  for  eternity  and  not  merely 
for  time.  Due  to  this  is  the  unusual  activity  of  the  Church 
members  in  genealogical  research.  It  is  believed  that  the 
Mormon  Church  is  the  only  denomination  that  marries 
for  eternity,  this  marriage  also  binding  in  the  eternal  family 
relation  the  children  of  the  contracting  individuals. 

The  temple  administration  is  separate  from  that  of  the 
Stake  in  which  it  may  be  situated  and  its  doors,  after  dedi- 
cation, are  closed  save  to  its  officers  and  to  those  who 
come  to  receive  its  benefits.  In  the  past  years  these  ordi- 
nances have  been  received  outside  of  Arizona,  at  large 

222 


expense  for  travel  from  this  State.  Naturally,  there  has 
been  a  wish  for  location  of  a  temple  more  readily  to  be 
reached  by  the  devout. 

The  temple  idea  in  Arizona  appears  to  date  back  to  an 
assurance  given  about  1870  in  St.  George  by  Brigham 
Young.  A  prediction  was  made  by  Jesse  N.  Smith  about 
1882,  to  the  effect  that  a  temple,  at  some  future  day,  would 
be  reared  on  the  site  of  Pima  in  Graham  County.  The 
first  donation  toward  such  an  end  was  recorded  January 
24,  1887,  in  the  name  of  Mrs.  Helena  Roseberry,  a  poor 
widow  of  Pima,  who  gave  $5  toward  the  building  of  a  temple 
in  Arizona,  handing  the  money  to  Apostle  Moses  Thatcher. 
This  widow's  mite  ever  since  has  been  held  by  the  Church 
in  Salt  Lake.  Possibly  it  has  drawn  good  interest,  for 
through  the  Church  Presidency  has  come  a  donation  of 
$200,000  to  assure  the  end  the  widow  had  wished  for. 

Another  "nest  egg,'*  the  first  contribution  received 
directly  for  the  Mesa  edifice,  came  from  another  widow, 
Mrs.  Amanda  Hastings  of  Mesa,  who,  on  behalf  of  herself 
and  children,  three  years  ago,  gave  the  Stake  presidency 
$15. 

The  new  temple,  of  which  there  is  reproduction  here- 
with of  an  artist's  sketch,  is  to  rise  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Mesa  upon  a  tract  of  forty  acres,  which  is  to  be  a  veritable 
park,  its  edges  occupied  by  homes.  The  architects  are  Don 
C.  Young  and  Ramm  Hansen  of  Salt  Lake.  The  temple 
will  rise  66  feet,  showing  as  a  vast  monument  upon  a 
foundation  base  that  will  be  180x195  feet.  This  base  will 
contain  the  offices  and  preparation  rooms.  While  the 
structure  will  be  sightly  from  all  sides,  on  its  north  will  be 
a  great  entrance.  Between  the  dividing  staircase  will  be 
a  corridor  entry  to  the  baptismal  room.  The  staircase, 
joined  at  the  second  story,  will  stretch  100  feet  in  a  great 
flight,  its  landings  successively  taking  the  initiates  to  the 
higher  planes  of  instruction.  In  this  respect,  the  plan  is 
said  by  Church  authorities  to  be  the  best  of  any  temple 

223 


of  the  faith.    The  rooms  will  be  ample  in  size  for  the  in- 
struction of  classes  of  over  100. 

The  building  of  the  Mesa  temple  was  the  primary  sub- 
ject at  all  meetings  of  congregations  of  the  faith  on  Sep- 
tember 12,  1920,  and  from  voluntary  donations  on  that 
day  there  was  added  to  the  temple  fund  $112,000. 


224 


Chapter  Twenty 


^trst  Jifmittli^s  of  Ammm 

Pueblo  Dwellers  of  Ancient  Times 

In  considering  the  development  features  of  the  settle- 
ment of  central  Arizona,  the  Author  feels  it  might  be  in- 
teresting to  note  that  the  immigrants  saw  in  the  Salt  River 
Valley  many  evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
covering  the  passage  northward  of  the  Nephites  of  old. 
There  was  found  a  broad  valley  that  had  lain  untouched 
for  a  thousand  years,  unoccupied  by  Indian  or  Spaniard 
till  Jack  SwilHng  and  his  miners  dug  the  first  canal  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river  a  few  years  before  the  coming  of  the 
Saints  to  Jonesville.  The  valley  had  lain  between  the  red- 
skinned  agriculturists  of  the  Gila  and  the  Apache  Ishmael- 
ites  of  the  hills.  There  had  been  no  intrusion  of  Spanish  or 
Mexican  grants.  The  ground  had  been  preserved  for 
utilization  of  the  highest  sort  by  American  intelligence. 

Yet  this  same  intelligence  found  much  to  admire  in 
the  works  of  the  people  who  had  passed  on.  From  the  river 
had  been  taken  out  great  canals  of  good  gradient,  and  it 
was  clear  that  they  had  been  dug  by  a  people  of  homelj'" 
thrift  and  of  skill  in  the  tiUing  of  the  soil.  There  still  were 
to  be  seen  piles  of  earth  that  marked  where  at  least  seven 
great  communal  houses  had  formed  nuclei  for  a  numerous 
people.     These  were  served  by  123  miles  of  canals. 

These  people  were  not  Aztec.  According  to  accepted 
tradition,  the  Aztecs  passed  southward  along  the  western 
coast,  reaching  Culiacan,  in  northwestern  Mexico,  about 
700  A.  D.,  and  there  named  themselves  the  MextU.  The 
ancient   people   of  the   Salt   River   Valley  probably  had 

225 


226 


moved,  or  were  moving,  about  that  same  time.  They  appear 
to  have  been  of  Toltecan  stock  and  undoubtedly  came  from 
the  southward,  from  a  land  where  was  known  the  building 
of  houses  and  wherein  had  been  estabhshed  religious  cults 
of  notable  completeness  and  assuredly  of  tenacious  hold. 
Just  why  they  left  the  Salt  River  Valley  is  as  incomprehen- 
sible as  why  they  entered  it,  and  how  long  they  stayed  is 
purely  a  matter  of  conjecture.  Probably  occupation  of  the 
valley  was  not  simultaneous.  Probably  the  leaving  was 
by  families  or  clans,  extending  over  a  period  of  many  years. 
Probably  they  left  on  the  ending  of  a  cycle  of  peace,  on  the 
coming  to  the  Southwest  of  the  first  of  the  Apache,  or  of 
similar  marauders,  who  preyed  upon  the  peaceful  dwellers 
of  the  plains.  That  they  were  people  of  peace  cannot  be 
doubted,  people  who  in  the  end  had  to  defend  their  towns, 
yet  sought  no  aggression. 
Evidences  of  Well-Developed  Culture 

Possibly  a  great  epidemic,  of  the  sort  known  to  have 
swept  Mexico  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniard,  gravely 
cut  down  the  numbers  of  the  ancient  valley  settlers.  Near 
every  communal  castle  is  to  be  found  a  cemetery,  filled  with 
burial  urns,  their  tops  usually  less  than  a  foot  below  the 
surface.  These  urns  (ollas)  are  filled  with  calcined  human 
bones.  By  them  are  to  be  found  the  broken  pottery,  of 
which  the  spirits  were  to  accompany  the  late  lamented  on 
their  journey  to  the  happy  hunting  grounds.  These  dishes 
once  contained  food,  intended  for  the  spirit  travelers* 
nourishment.  When  there  was  a  child,  oftimes  now  is  found 
the  clay  image  of  a  dog,  for  a  dog  always  knows  the  way 
home.  The  dog  is  believed  to  have  been  the  only  domestic 
animal  of  the  time. 

In  some  cases,  in  the  greater  houses,  walled  into  crypts 
that  might  have  served  as  family  lounging  places,  have  been 
found  the  skeletons  of  those  who  were  of  esoteric  standing, 
considered  able,  by  the  force  of  will,  to  separate  spirit  from 
body.      In  other  cases  the  cleansing  and  disintegrating 

227 


effects  of  fire  secured  the  necessary  separation  of  the  spirit 
from  the  body. 

With  these  mortuary  evidences  also  are  found  domestic 
implements,  stone  clubs,  arrow  points  and,  particularly 
valuable,  prayer  sticks  and  religious  implements  that 
clearly  show  the  archaeologist  a  connection  with  the  pueblo- 
dwelling  peoples  who  still  live,  under  similar  communal 
conditions,  to  the  northward. 

Northward  Trend  of  the  Ancient  People 

That  these  ancient  peoples  went  north  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  North  of  the  valley,  nearly  fifty  miles,  on  the  Verde, 
is  a  great  stone  ruin  and  beyond  it  are  cavate  dwellings  of 
remarkable  sort.  In  Tonto  Creek  Valley,  a  dozen  miles 
north  of  the  Roosevelt  dam,  is  an  immense  ruin  built  of 
gypsum  blocks.  To  the  eastward,  Casa  Grande,  most  famed 
of  all  Arizona  prehistoric  remains,  still  stands,  iron-roofed 
by  a  careful  government,  probably  of  a  later  time  of 
abandonment,  but  still  a  ruin  when  first  seen  by  Father 
Eusebio  Kino  in  1694.  All  the  way  up  the  Gila,  and  with 
a  notable  southern  stem  through  the  Mimbres  Valley,  are 
found  these  same  evidences  of  ancient  occupation.  Chi- 
chilticalh,  "the  Red  House,"  mentioned  by  Marco  de  Niza 
and  by  Coronado's  historians  in  1539-40,  lay  somewhere 
near  where  another  group  of  Mormons  again  reclaimed  the 
desert  soil  by  irrigation  in  the  upper  Gila  Valley.  Ruins 
extended  from  Pueblo  Viejo  ("Old  Town"),  above  Solo- 
monville,  down  to  San  Carlos. 

Into  the  valleys  of  the  Salt  and  of  the  Gila,  from  the 
north  come  many  waterways.  In  none  of  these  tributary 
valleys  can  there  be  failure  to  find  evidences  of  the  north- 
ward march  of  the  Indians  who  lived  in  houses.  In  this 
intermediate  region,  the  houses  usually,  for  protection,  were 
placed  in  the  cliffs.  Particularly  notable  are  the  cave 
dwellings  of  the  upper  Verde  and  in  Tonto  Basin,  near 
Roosevelt,  and  in  the  Sierra  Anchas  and  near  Flagstaff. 

Again  there  was  debouchment  upon  a  river  valley,  that 

228 


JONATHAN  HEATON  OF  MOCCASIN  AND  HIS 
FIFTEEN  SONS— page  98 


Tra  Hatch,  Indian  Missionary — page  107 

2 — Thales  Haskell.  Indian  Missionary — l)age  107 

3 — Wm.  C.  Frows,  Battalion  Member — page  37 

1        X'„^V>..^    T^     -Pr^Ui-^^r^T,     l-;ilor1   h^'   Inrlinna nn  o-P   17'^ 


of  the  Little  Colorado.  Possibly  some  of  the  tribes  worked 
eastward  into  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Another  sec- 
tion, and  for  this  there  is  no  less  evidence  than  that  of 
Frank  Hamilton  Gushing,  formed  at  least  a  part  of  the 
forefathers  of  the  Zuni.  Swinging  to  the  northwest,  the 
Water  House  and  other  clans  formed  the  southern  branch 
of  the  three  from  which  the  Moqui,  or  Hopi,  people  are 
descended.  This  last  is  history.  The  early  Mormons  re- 
marked upon  the  pueblo  ruins  that  lay  near  their  first 
Little  Colorado  towns,  above  St.  Joseph.  These  ruins  are 
known  to  the  Hopi  as  "Homolobi,"  and  much  is  the  in- 
formation concerning  them  to  be  had  from  the  historians 
of  the  present  hilltop  tribes. 

Reports  of  similarity  have  been  so  many,  there  can  be 
no  surprise  that  the  earUer  settlers  from  Utah  wrote  home 
joyously,  telling  that  proofs  had  been  found  of  the 
northern  migration  so  definitely  outhned  in  their  ecclesias- 
tical writings,  according  to  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

The  Great  Reavis  Land  Grant  Fraud 

For  about  ten  years  from  1885  all  the  lands  of  the  Salt 
and  Gila  valleys  of  Arizona  lay  under  a  serious  cloud  of 
title.  There  had  been  elimination  of  the  Texas-Pacific  land- 
grant,  which  unsuccessfully  had  been  claimed  by  the 
Southern  Pacific.  Then  came  the  Reavis  grant,  one  of  the 
most  monumental  of  attempted  swindles  ever  known. 
James  Addison  Reavis,  a  newspaper  solicitor,  claimed  a 
tract  78  miles  wide  from  a  point  at  the  junction  of  the  Gila 
and  Salt  Rivers,  eastward  to  beyond  Silver  City,  N.  M., 
on  the  basis  of  an  alleged  grant,  of  date  December  20, 
1748,  by  Fernando  VI,  King  of  Spain,  to  Senor  Don  Miguel 
de  Peralta  y  Cordoba,  who  then  was  made  Baron  of  the 
Colorados  and  granted  300  square  leagues  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  viceroyalty  of  New  Spain.  The  grant  was 
said  to  have  been  appropriated  in  1757.  Reavis  had  first 
claimed  by  virtue  of  a  deed  from  one  Willing,  of  date  1867, 
but  there  was  switching  later,  Reavis  thereafter  claiming 

229 


as  agent  for  his  wife,  said  to  have  been  the  last  of  the 
Peralta  line,  but  in  reality  a  half-breed  Indian  woman, 
found  on  an  Indian  reservation  in  northern  California,  and 
one  who  had  no  Mexican  history  whatever.  Reavis  re- 
named himself  "Peralta-Reavis,"  and  for  a  while  had  head- 
quarters for  his  "barony"  at  Arizola,  a  short  distance  east 
of  Casa  Grande,  where  he  maintained  his  family  in  state, 
with  his  children  in  royal  purple  velvet,  with  monogrammed 
coronets  upon  their  Russian  caps.  He  arrogated  to  himself 
ownership  of  all  the  water  and  the  mines  and  sold  quit- 
claim deeds  to  the  land's  owners.  It  is  said  that  the  South- 
ern Pacific  bought  its  right  of  way  from  him  and  that  the 
Silver  King  and  other  mines  similarly  contributed  to  his 
exchequer.  He  claimed  Phoenix,  Mesa,  Florence,  Globe, 
Silver  King,  Safford  and  Silver  City. 

He  planned  a  storage  basin  on  Salt  River  and  another 
above  Florence  on  the  Gila,  and  advertised  that  he  in- 
tended to  reclaim  6,000,000  acres  on  the  Casa  Grande  and 
Maricopa  plains,  "thereafter  returning  to  the  Gila  any 
surplus  water."  Just  how  accurate  his  figures  were  may  be 
judged  by  the  fact  that  government  engineers  have  found 
that  the  waters  of  the  Gila,  above  Florence,  are  sufficient 
for  the  iriigation  of  not  more  than  90,000  acres.  He 
viewed  things  on  a  big  scale,  however.  At  Tonto  Basin 
he  was  to  build  a  dam  450  feet  high  and  the  water  was  to 
be  taken  from  the  river  channel  by  means  of  a  44,000-foot 
tunnel. 

Whenever  one  of  his  prospective  customers  failed  to 
contribute,  he  often  deeded  the  land  to  a  third  party.  Some 
of  these  deeds  are  to  be  seen  on  the  records  of  Maricopa 
County.  His  case  had  been  so  well  prepared  that  many 
were  deceived,  even  the  lawyeis  who  served  him  as  counsel, 
including  Robert  G.  Ingersoll.  Naturally  something  ap- 
proximating a  panic  for  a  while  was  known  by  the  farmers 
of  the  valleys  affected. 

Meanwhile,  very  largely  from  moneys  obtained  as  above 

230 


noted,  Reavis  was  spending  royally  at  many  points.  At 
Madrid,  Spain,  he  had  a  gorgeous  establishment,  whereat 
he  even  entertained  the  American  Legation.  At  many 
points  in  Mexico,  he  scattered  coin  lavishly  and  accumu- 
lated cords  of  alleged  original  records  and  he  even  found 
paintings  of  his  wife's  alleged  ancestors.  The  grant  was 
taken  into  politics  and  was  an  issue  in  the  congressional 
campaign  of  1887. 

About  1898  there  was  establishment  of  the  United  States 
Court  of  Private  Land  Claims,  especially  for  adjudication 
of  many  such  claims  in  the  Southwest.  Reavis'  elabor- 
ately prepared  case  tumbled  almost  from  the  day  it  was 
brought  into  court.  Government  agents  found  bribery, 
corruption  and  fraud  all  along  his  trail.  He  had  interpolated 
pages  in  old  record  books  and  had  even  changed  and  re- 
written royal  documents,  including  one  on  which  the  grant 
was  based.  Some  of  his  "ancient  "  documents  were  found 
to  have  been  executed  on  very  modern  milled  paper.  On 
one  of  them  appeared  the  water  mark  of  a  Wisconsin  paper 
mill.  Others  had  type  that  had  been  invented  only  a  few 
years  before.  The  claim  was  unanimously  rejected  by  the 
land  court  and  on  the  same  day  Reavis  was  arrested  on 
five  indictments  for  conspiracy.  He  was  convicted  in 
January,  1895,  and  sentenced  to  six  years  in  the  peniten- 
tiary. After  serving  his  sentence,  he  made  a  brief  confession, 
telling  that  he  had  been  "playing  a  game  which  to  win 
meant  greater  wealth  than  that  of  Gould  or  Vanderbilt." 
The  district  covered  by  his  claim  today  has  property 
valued  at  at  least  one  billion  dollars. 

When  Mesa  first  was  settled,  every  alternate  section 
was  called  "railroad  land,"  claimed  by  the  Southern  Pacific, 
under  virtue  of  the  old  Tom  Scott-Texas  &  Pacific  land 
grant.  Early  in  the  eighties,  this  claim  vanished,  it  being 
decided  that  the  Southern  Pacific  had  no  right  to  the  grant. 


231 


Chapter  Twcnty-ont 


Location  on  the  San  Pedro  River 

Much  historical  value  attaches  to  the  settlement  of 
the  Saints  upon  the  San  Pedro  River,  even  though  pros- 
perity there  has  not  yet  come  in  as  large  a  degree  as  has 
been  known  elsewhere  within  the  State.  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  within  the  next  few  years  an  advance  in  material 
riches  will  be  known  in  large  degree,  through  water  storage, 
saving  both  water  and  the  cutting  away  of  lands  through 
flood,  and  that  permanent  diversion  works  will  save  the 
heart-breaking  tasks  of  frequent  rebuilding  of  the  tempo- 
rary dams  heretofore  washed  out  in  almost  every  freshet. 

Elsewhere  has  been  told  the  story  of  the  Daniel  W. 
Jones  party  that  settled  at  Lehi  and  of  the  dissension  that 
followed  objections  on  the  part  of  the  majority  to  the  rul- 
ings of  the  stout  old  elder,  whose  mind  especially  dwelt 
upon  the  welfare  of  red-skinned  brethren. 

There  had  been  general  authorization  to  the  Jones- 
Merrill  expedition  to  go  as  far  southward  as  it  wished. 
Under  this,  though  not  till  there  had  been  consultation 
with  the  Church  Presidency,  the  greater  number  of  the  Lehi 
settlers  left  Salt  River  early  in  August,  1877.  There  was 
expectation  that  they  were  to  settle  on  the  headwaters  of 
the  Gila  or  on  the  San  Pedro.  There  must  have  been  a 
deal  of  faith  within  the  company,  for  the  departure  from 
camp  was  with  provisions  only  enough  to  last  two  days 
and  there  was  appreciation  that  much  wild  country  would 
need  to  be  passed.  But  there  was  loan  of  the  wages  of  A. 
0.  Williams,  a  member  of  the  party  who  had  been  employed 

232 


by  C.  T.  Hayden  at  Tempe,  and  with  this  money  added 
provisions  were  secured. 

Necessarily,  the  journey  was  indirect.  At  Tucson  em- 
ployment was  ofifered  for  men  and  teams  by  Thomas  Gard- 
ner, who  owned  a  sawmill  in  the  Santa  Rita  Mountains. 
Much  of  the  money  thus  earned  was  saved,  for  the  party 
lived  under  the  rules  of  the  United  Order,  and  very  economi- 
cally. So,  in  the  fall,  with  the  large  joint  capital  of  S400  in 
cash,  added  to  teams  and  wagons  and  to  industry  and 
health,  there  was  fresh  start,  from  the  Santa  Ritas,  for  the 
San  Pedro,  45  miles  distant.  The  river  was  reached  No- 
vember 29,  1877. 

These  first  settlers  comprised  Philemon  C,  Dudley  T., 
Thomas,  Seth  and  Orrin  D.  Merrill,  George  E.  Steele, 
Joseph  McRae  and  A.  0.  WilUams.  All  but  Williams  and 
0.  D.  Merrill  had  families. 

Ground  was  broken  at  a  point  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  on  land  that  had  been  visited  and  located  October 
14,  by  P.  C.  Merrill  on  an  exploring  trip.  The  first  camp 
was  about  a  half  mile  south  of  the  present  St.  David  and 
soon  was  given  permanency  by  the  erection  of  a  small 
stone  fort  of  eight  rooms.  That  winter,  for  the  common 
interest,  was  planting  of  75  acres  of  wheat  and  barley, 
irrigated  from  springs  and  realizing  very  well. 

Malaria  Overcomes  a  Community 

As  was  usual  in  early  settlement  of  Arizona  valleys, 
malarial  fever  appeared  very  soon.  At  one  time,  in  the  fall 
of  1878,  nearly  all  the  settlers  were  prostrated  with  the 
malady,  probably  carried  by  mosquitoes  from  stagnant 
water.  That  year  also  it  was  soberly  told  that  fever  and 
ague  even  spread  to  the  domestic  animals.  At  times,  the 
sick  had  to  wait  on  the  sick  and  there  was  none  to  greet 
Apostle  Erastus  Snow  when  he  made  visitation  October 
6,  1878.  His  first  address  was  to  an  assembly  of  38  individ- 
uals, of  whom  many  had  been  carried  to  the  meeting  on 
their  beds.    It  is  chronicled  by  Elder  McRae  that,  "not- 

233 


withstanding  these  conditions,  the  Apostle  blessed  the 
place,  prophesying  that  the  day  would  come  when  the  San 
Pedro  Valley  would  be  settled  from  one  end  to  the  other 
with  Saints  and  that  we  had  experienced  the  worst  of  our 
sickness.  When  he  left,  all  felt  better  in  body  and  in 
spirit."  It  was  a  decidedly  hot  season.  "Vegetation  grew 
so  rank  that  a  horseman  mounted  on  a  tall  horse  could 
hardly  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Hay 
could  be  cut  a  stone's  throw  from  our  door." 

The  first  death  was  on  October  2,  1878,  of  the  same  A. 
0.  Williams  whose  money  had  brought  the  people  to  the 
new  land. 

Possibly  the  settlement  needed  the  mental  and  spiritual 
encouragement  of  Apostle  Snow,  for  more  than  a  year  had 
passed  of  hardships  and  of  labor,  and,  including  the  Lehi 
experience,  there  had  been  no  recompense,  unless  it  might 
have  been  in  the  way  of  mental  and  moral  discipline. 

The  early  malaria  of  the  Arizona  valleys  nearly  all  has 
disappeared,  with  the  draining  of  swampy  places,  the  eradi- 
cation of  beaver  dams  and  mosquitoes  and  the  knowledge 
of  better  living  conditions.  Elsewhere  has  been  told  of  the 
abandonment  of  Obed  and  other  early  Little  Colorado 
settlements,  because  of  chills  and  fever.  Something  of  the 
same  sort  was  known  on  the  upper  Gila,  from  1882  to  1890, 
around  Pima,  Curtis  and  Bryce.  In  this  same  upper  Gila 
Valley,  Fort  Goodwin  had  to  be  abandoned  on  account  of 
malarial  conditions.  The  same  is  true  of  old  Fort  Grant, 
across  the  divide,  on  the  lower  San  Pedro.  The  upper 
Verde,  the  Santa  Cruz  and  nearly  all  similar  valleys  knew 
malaria  at  the  time  of  settlement. 

According  to  Merrill,  on  March  26,  1879,  the  sick  and 
sorry  settlers  went  into  the  Huachuca  Mountains  to  sum- 
mer, but,  "the  wind  blew  so  much  that  we  moved  back  to 
the  river,  near  where  Hereford  now  is,  rented  some  land 
and  put  in  some  crops."  This  location  is  just  about  where 
the  members  of  the  Mormon  BattaUon,  in  1846,  had  their 


234 


memorable  fight  with  the  wild  bulls.  A  Merrill  report, 
rendered  March  16,  1881,  was  far  from  hopeful  and  asked 
that  the  writer  be  relieved  of  his  responsibilities. 

On  the  Route  of  the  Mormon  Battalion 

This  office  has  been  unable  to  find  any  reference  con- 
necting Merrill's  later  experiences  in  the  San  Pedro  Valley 
with  the  time  when  he  was  an  officer  of  the  Mormon 
Battalion,  though  it  can  be  imagined  that  his  later  asso- 
ciates had  the  benefit  of  many  reminiscences  of  that 
period  of  the  march  just  prior  to  the  taking  of  Tucson. 

The  San  Pedro  Valley  is  a  historic  locality.  Down  it 
passed  Friar  Marco  de  Niza,  in  1539,  and  the  Coronado 
expedition  of  the  following  year.  The  waters  of  the  stream 
were  a  joyous  sight  to  the  Mormon  Battalion,  when  it 
passed  that  way  during  the  Mexican  War.  The  country 
then  had  been  occupied  to  some  extent  by  Spaniards  or 
Mexicans,  who  had  established  large  ranches,  with  many 
cattle,  from  which  they  had  been  driven  by  the  Apaches, 
years  before  the  Battalion  came.  The  country  once  had 
been  the  ranging  ground  of  the  friendly  Sobaipuri  Indians, 
but  they  too  had  been  driven  away  by  the  hillmen  and  had 
established  a  village  on  the  Santa  Cruz,  near  their  kinsmen, 
the  Papago,  almost  on  the  site  where  Tucson  was  founded 
as  a  Spanish  presidio  in  1776. 

The  river,  when  the  Merrill  party  came,  was  found 
usually  in  a  deep  gully,  in  places  twenty  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  silty  ground.  Naturally,  difficulty  has 
attended  the  attempts  to  dam  the  stream. 

Chronicles  of  a  Quiet  Neighborhood 

St.  David  was  named  by  Alexander  F.  Macdonald  in 
honor  of  David  W.  Patten,  a  martyr  of  the  Church,  who 
died  at  the  hands  of  the  same  mob  that  killed  Joseph  Smith. 
Its  first  mail  was  received  at  Tres  Alamos,  sixteen  miles 
down  the  river.  A  postoffice  was  established  in  1882, 
Joseph  McRae  in  charge.   When  the  Southern  Pacific  came 

235 


through,  Benson  was  established,  nine  miles  to  the  north- 
ward.   Tombstone  lies  sixteen  miles  to  the  southeast. 

In  May,  1880,  the  present  St.  David  townsite  was  laid 
out.  John  Smith  Merrill  built  the  first  house.  The  follow- 
ing 3^ear  an  adobe  schoolhouse  was  built,  this  used  for  public 
gatherings  until  shaken  down  by  an  earthquake.  May  3, 
1887,  happily  while  the  children  were  at  recess.  Much 
damage  was  done  in  the  town. 

The  settlement  had  little  or  no  trouble  with  Indians, 
though  for  nine  years  Apache  bands  scouted  and  murdered 
in  the  nearby  mountains  and  committed  depredations 
within  the  San  Pedro  Valley,  both  to  the  northward  and 
southward. 

Early  in  1879  John  Campbell,  a  new  member,  from 
Texas,  built  a  sawmill,  in  the  Huachuca  Mountains,  that 
furnished  a  diversity  of  industry,  from  it  much  lumber  being 
shipped  to  Tombstone. 

Macdcnald  was  a  southern  extension  of  the  St.  David 
community  on  the  San  Pedro,  established  in  1882  by  Henry 
J.  Home,  Jonathan  Hoopes  and  others,  and  named  in 
honor  of  Alexander  F.  Macdonald,  then  president  of  the 
Maricopa  Stake.  It  was  of  slow  growth,  owing  to  claims 
upon  the  lands  as  constituting  a  part  of  the  San  Juan  de 
las  Boquillas  y  Nogales  grant,  later  rejected.  In  1913, 
nine  miles  west  of  St.  David,  was  established  the  com- 
munity of  Miramonte. 

Looking  Toward  Homes  in  Mexico 

tVhile  the  Saints  were  establishing  themselves  upon  the 
San  Pedro  and  Gila,  the  Church  authorities  by  no  means 
had  lost  sight  of  the  primary  object  of  the  southern  mi- 
gration. January  4,  1883,  Apostle  Moses  Thatcher,  with 
Elders  D.  P.  Kimball,  Teeples,  Fuller,  Curtis,  Trejo  and 
Martineau,  left  St.  David  for  an  exploring  trip  into  Mexico. 

September  13,  1884,  another  party  left  St.  David  to 
explore  the  country  lying  south  of  the  line,  along  the 
Babispe  River,  returning  October  7,  by  way  of  the  San 

236 


Bernardino  ranch,  though  without  finding  any  locations 
considered  favorable. 

In  November,  1884,  Apostles  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  and 
Heber  J.  Grant,  with  a  company  from  St.  Joseph  Stake, 
with  thirty  wagons,  went  into  Sonora,  where  they  were 
given  a  hearty  welcome  by  the  Yaqui  Indians,  who  ex- 
pressed hope  of  a  settlement  among  them. 

St.  David  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most  notable 
councils  of  the  Church,  held  in  January,  1885,  and  presided 
over  by  none  other  than  President  John  Taylor,  who  left 
Salt  Lake  City,  January  3,  and  whose  party  at  St.  David 
included  also  Apostles  Joseph  F.  Smith,  Ei-astus  Snow, 
Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  Moses  Thatcher  and  Francis  M. 
Lyman,  with  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church.  At  St.  David 
were  met  Jesse  N.  Smith,  Christopher  Layton,  Alex.  F. 
Macdonald  and  Lot  Smith,  presidents  of  the  four  Stakes  of 
Arizona.  The  discussion  at  this  conference  appeared  to 
have  been  mainly  upon  the  Church  prosecution,  then  in 
full  sway,  a  matter  not  included  within  the  purview  of 
this  work.  There  was  determination  to  extend  the  Church 
settlements  farther  to  the  southward.  According  to  Orson 
F.  Whitney: 

In  order  to  provide  a  place  of  refuge  for  such  as  were  being  hunted 
and  hounded,  President  Taylor  sent  parties  into  Mexico  to  arrange 
for  the  purchase  of  land  in  that  country,  upon  which  the  fugitive  Saints 
might  settle.  One  of  the  first  sites  selected  for  this  purpose  was  just 
across  the  line  in  the  State  of  Sonora.  Elder  Christopher  Layton 
made  choice  of  this  locality.  Other  lands  were  secured  in  the  State 
of  Chihuahua.  President  Taylor  and  his  party  called  upon  Governor 
Torres  at  Hermosillo,  the  capital  of  Sonora,  and  were  received  by 
that  oflScial  with  marked  courtesy. 

Historian  Whitney  states  that  the  Taylor  party  then 
went  westward  by  way  of  the  Salt  River  Valley  settle- 
ments to  the  Pacific  Coast.  And  this  office  has  a  record  to 
the  effect  that,  in  January,  President  Taylor  visited  also 
the  settlements  of  the  Little  Colorado  section  and  counseled 
concerning  the  disposition  of  several  of  the  early  towns  of 
that  locahty. 

237 


Of  Arizona  interest  is  the  fact  that  for  two  and  a  half 
years  thereafter,  the  President  of  the  Mormon  Church  was 
in  exile,  till  the  date  of  his  death,  July  25, 1887,  in  Kaysville, 
Utah.  Much  of  the  intervening  time  was  spent  in  Arizona 
and  a  part  of  it  in  Mexico,  in  the  settlements  that  had  been 
established  as  places  of  refuge.  His  declining  months, 
however,  were  spent  in  Utah,  even  entire  communities 
guarding  well  the  secret  of  the  presence  of  their  spiritual 
head. 

Arizona's  First  Artesian  Well 

Possibly  the  first  artesian  well  known  in  Arizona  was 
developed  in  the  St.  David  settlement.  In  1885  a  bounty 
of  $1500  was  offered  for  the  development  of  artesian  water. 
The  reward  was  claimed  by  the  McRae  brothers,  who 
developed  a  flow  of  about  thirty  gallons  a  minute,  but  who 
failed  to  receive  any  reward.  Five  years  ago,  J.  S.  Merrill 
of  St.  David  reported  that  within  the  San  Pedro  Valley 
were  about  200  flowing  wells,  furnishing  from  five  to  150 
gallons  a  minute.  The  deepest  valley  well  was  about  600 
feet.  At  that  time  about  2000  acres  were  irrigated  by  the 
St.  David  canal  and  by  the  wells,  sustaining  a  population  of 
about  600  souls. 

Development  of  a  Market  at  Tombstone 

It  happened  on  the  San  Pedro,  just  as  in  many  other 
places,  that  the  Mormons  were  just  a  little  ahead  of  some 
great  development.  September  3,  1877,  at  Tucson,  Ed. 
Schieffelin  recorded  the  first  of  his  mining  claims  in  Tomb- 
stone District,  which  then  lay  in  Pima  County. 

Schieffelin's  first  discovery  was  several  miles  from  the 
later  site  of  Tombstone  and  about  four  miles  from  the  San 
Pedro.  Later,  with  Dick  Gird  and  Al  Schiffelin,  the 
original  discoverer  located  the  lower  group  of  mines  in 
the  camp  of  Tombstone,  then  established.  A  number  of 
other  settlements  sprang  up,  including  the  nearby  Rich- 
mond, Watervale  and  the  mill  towns  of  Charleston  and 

238 


Contention  City,  both  on  the  San  Pedro  ,where  water  could 
be  secured. 

Several  miles  west  of  Tombstone,  just  where  Ed. 
Schieffelin  camped  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  his 
Tombstone  claim,  is  a  large  monument  of  cemented  rock, 
under  which  lie  his  remains,  brought  back  from  the  North- 
west for  interment  in  the  land  he  loved.  His  death  was  on 
May  12,  1897. 

The  Tombstone  Gold  &  Silver  MiUing  &  Mining  Com- 
pany, of  which  former  Gov.  A.  P.  K.  Safford  was  president, 
in  1880  owned  the  original  group  of  SchieffeUn  claims,  of 
which  the  Tough  Nut  was  the  main  property.  A  stamp 
mill  was  built  on  the  San  Pedro  and  a  contract  entered  into 
with  the  Mormons  to  build  a  dam  and  ditch,  from  which 
it  was  hoped  to  secure  motive  power.  Concerning  this  job, 
estimated  to  cost  S6000,  Merrill  later  wrote  that  the  con- 
tractors found  themselves  fined  $300  for  six  days'  overtime 
on  completion  of  the  job.  Joseph  McRae's  record  tells 
that,  in  1879,  some  of  the  brethren  went  up  the  river, 
twenty  miles  above  St.  David,  and  put  in  a  rip-rap  dam 
and  a  mile  and  a  half  of  ditch  at  Charleston  for  the  Boston 
Mining  Company.  This  may  have  been  the  Boston  & 
Arizona  Smelting  &  Reduction  Company,  a  Massachusetts 
corporation  which  had  a  twenty-stamp  mill  and  a  roasting 
furnace  on  the  San  Pedro,  between  Charleston  and  Con- 
tention, ten  miles  from  Tombstone.  This  job  returned 
$6000  in  cash. 

The  mines  brought  a  relative  degree  of  prosperity  to  the 
San  Pedro  settlement,  furnishing  a  ready  and  profitable 
market  for  agricultural  products,  but  especially  calling 
upon  all  transportation  facilities  that  could  be  afforded. 
Teams  were  busy  hauling  from  the  terminus  of  the  railroad 
at  Tucson  and  at  Benson,  until,  in  October,  1882,  there  was 
completion  of  the  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  railroad,  then 
a  Santa  Fe  corporation,  from  Benson  to  Nogales,  much 
of  the  way  through  the  San  Pedro  Valley,  past  St.  David 

239 


and  the  milling  towns.    The  mines  paid  $30  a  cord  for  fuel 
wood  and  even  $40  a  ton  for  hay. 

Lean  days  descended  upon  the  community,  however, 
in  the  early  summer  of  1886,  when  the  great  pumps  of  the 
Grand  Central  mine  were  stopped  by  fire.  The  following 
year  Tombstone  practically  was  abandoned  and  the  market 
it  had  afforded  was  lost.  Not  till  1901  did  the  camp  revive. 
It  closed  again  in  June,  1903,  by  the  drowning  of  the 
pumps.  Latterly  the  old  mines,  consolidated,  have  been 
worked  to  some  extent  by  the  Phelps-Dodge  Corporation, 
but  again  have  been  closed,  early  in  April,  1921. 


240 


Chapter  Twenty-two 


(^n  i\\t  Ppper  Qltla 


Ancient  Dwellers  and  Military  Travelers 

Possibly  as  representative  a  region  as  is  known  in  the 
settlement  area  of  the  Mormon  people  lies  for  about  25  miles 
along  the  Gila  River  in  eastern  Arizona,  in  Graham  County, 
and  within  St.  Joseph  Stake.  Over  a  dozen  communities 
are  contained  within  this  section  and  all  are  distinctly 
Mormon  in  settlement  and  local  operation,  save  Solo- 
monville,  at  the  upper  end,  and  Safford,  the  county  seat 
and  principal  town.  Most  of  the  land  is  owned  by  the  Saints, 
who  control,  as  well,  a  dozen  small  canals.  Within  the 
Stake  have  been  included  Mormon  settlements  of  the  San 
Pedro  Valley  and  those  upon  the  upper  Gila,  in  Greenlee 
County,  extending  over  into    New  Mexico  and  El  Paso. 

The  settlement  of  the  Graham  County  section  of  the 
Gila  Valley  did  not  start  with  the  Mormons.  Far  from  it. 
In  the  upper  end  of  the  cultivated  region  is  one  of  the  most 
notable  groups  of  ruins  in  the  Southwest.  This  group, 
since  the  coming  of  the  Spaniard,  appears  to  have  borne 
the  name  of  Pueblo  Viejo  (Sp.,  "Old  Town'*)-  Somewhere 
farther  down  the  stream  is  assumed  to  have  been  "Chi- 
chilticalh,"  the  "red  house"  mentioned  in  the  chronicles 
of  Marco  de  Niza  and  the  Coronado  expedition. 

The  valley  was  traversed,  from  east  to  west,  by  Gen. 
S.  W.  Kearny,  on  his  way,  with  a  dragoon  escort,  in  1846, 
to  take  California  from  the  Mexicans,  this  command,  from 
the  Pima  villages  westward,  forming  the  advance  guard  for 
the  Mormon  Battalion.  Much  interesting  data  of  the  Gila 
Valley  trip  was  written  by  Lieutenant  Emory,  who  later 

241 


was  chief  of  the  Boundary  Survey.    It  is  notable  that  in 
1846  Mount  Graham  already  was  known  by  that  name. 

Early  Days  Around  SafTord 

A  few  Mexicans  were  in  the  valley  as  early  as  1871, 
farming  in  the  vicinity  of  Pueblo  Viejo,  immediately  below 
which  later  arose  the  town  of  Solomonville.  In  1872  was 
the  first  Anglo-Saxon  settlement,  a  group  of  farmers  coming 
from  Gila  Bend,  upon  the  Gila  River,  where  they  had 
attempted  farming  and  had  failed  because  the  wandering 
river  had  washed  away  their  dams  and  headgates.  These 
farmers,  financed  in  Tucson  for  the  building  of  the  Monte- 
zuma canal,  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Safford,  where  about 
that  time,  was  established  a  townsite,  named  in  honor  of 
Gov.  A.  P.  K.  Safford  who,  from  Tucson,  then  was  making 
a  tour  of  that  part  of  Arizona  Territory. 

One  of  the  very  earliest  valley  residents  was  D.  W. 
Wickersham,  who  wrote  the  Author  lately,  covering  his 
early  experiences.  To  later  serve  as  the  first  teacher,  he 
arrived  in  Safford  the  summer  of  1876,  there  finding  Joshua 
E.  Bailey  and  Hiram  Kennedy,  who  had  come  from  Gila 
Bend.  Bailey  he  considers  the  founder  of  Safford  and 
beheves  it  was  he  who  named  the  settlement.  Both  Bailey 
and  Kennedy  came  with  California  troops  during  the 
Civil  War.  The  former  died  in  Michigan  and  Kennedy 
was  murdered  in  Safford  in  1877.  Others  of  the  early 
settlers  were  Wm.  A.  Gillespie,  John  Glasby,  John  Conley, 
A.  F.  Perigo,  Edw.  E.  Tuttle  and  E.  T.  Ijams. 

In  1876  appeared  Isador  E.  Solomon,  who  for  many 
years  occupied  a  leading  position.  He  came  primarily  to 
burn  charcoal  for  the  rude  adobe  furnaces  that  had  been 
erected  by  the  Lesynzskys  to  smelt  the  free  ores  of  the 
famous  Longfellow  mine  in  Chase  Creek  Canyon,  a  few 
miles  above  Chfton.  For  charcoal  Solomon  found  abundant 
material  in  an  almost  unbroken  mesquite  forest  that 
stretched  for  many  miles  along  the  river.  Solomon  pur- 
chased a  road  house  and  small  store  that  had  been  estab- 

242 


SOUTHEASTERN   ARIZONA 
The  Salt,  San  Pedro  and  Gila  Valleys  and  Routes  of  travel 


243 


lished  near  Pueblo  Viejo  by  one  Munson,  and  the  place 
soon  became  a  trading  post  for  a  large  extent  of  country, 
its  importance  increasing  with  the  development  of  the  great 
mining  region  around  Globe.  I.  E.  Solomon  still  is  living, 
an  honored  resident  of  Tucson,  his  children  prominent  in 
the  business  affairs  of  the  State.  Solomonville  was  so 
named,  in  1878,  by  none  other  than  Bill  Kirkland,  who 
raised  the  American  flag  in  Tucson  in  1856  and  who,  for  a 
while,  carried  mail  from  Fort  Thomas  to  Clifton. 

Apostle  Erastus  Snow  appears  to  have  been  the  first  of 
the  Mormon  faith  to  cross  this  Gila  Valley  region.  His  party 
arrived  on  the  San  Pedro  River,  October  6,  1878.  The  most 
easterly  point  reached  in  the  Gila  Valley  was  at  old  Camp 
Goodwin,  not  far  from  the  present  railroad  station  of  Fort 
Thomas  and  at  the  extreme  western  or  lower  end  of  the 
present  farmed  area.  It  would  require  a  separate  volume 
to  follow  Apostle  Erastus  Snow  on  his  journeyings  through 
the  Southwest,  where  he  appears  to  have  served  as  a  veri- 
table inspector- general  for  his  Church. 

On  the  1878  trip,  L.  John  Nuttall  of  Snow's  company, 
writes  of  passing  into  the  Gila  Valley  through  a  rocky 
canyon,  "a  terrible  place,  almost  impassable,  the  dread  of 
all  who  travel  this  way.'*  The  same  road  is  very  little 
better  to  this  day. 

At  one  point  was  passed  a  ridge  known  as  Postoffice 
Hill,  where  was  found  the  grave  of  a  white  man,  killed 
several  years  before  by  Apaches.  Every  time  an  Apache 
passed,  he  put  a  rock  on  the  grave  mound,  at  that  time 
about  twenty  feet  square  at  the  base  and  four  feet  high. 
The  travelers  added  another  rock,  on  the  principle  of, 
"When  in  Rome,  do  as  the  Romans  do." 

Mormon  Location  at  Smithville 

The  Mormon  settlement  of  the  Gila  Valley  was  one  of 
the  few  made  without  particular  and  direct  instruction  from 
the  general  Church  authorities.  It  was  caused,  primarily, 
by  trouble  over  the  land  tenure  at  Forest    Dale,   in  the 

244 


THE  FIRST  SCHOOL  HOUSE  AT  SAFFORD 


GILA  NORMAL  COLLEGE  AT  THATCHER 


mountains  to  the  northward,  where  settlers,  at  first  per- 
mitted, even  encouraged  by  the  reservation  authorities, 
finally  were  advised  that  they  were  on  Indian  land  and 
would  have  to  move.  The  first  question  before  the  colo- 
nists immediately  became  where  they  should  find  a  new 
abiding  place.  All  of  them  had  come  from  the  northward, 
seeking  a  better  location  than  afforded  along  the  Little 
Colorado  River  or  in  the  mountain  settlements.  So  there 
was  determination  to  see  what  could  be  found  in  the  way 
of  farming  land  on  the  Gila,  to  the  southward. 

In  February,  1879,  an  expedition  started  over  the  hills 
to  view  the  valley  of  the  Gila.  It  included  W.  R.  Teeples, 
John  Wm.  Tanner,  Ben  Pierce  and  Hyrum  Weech.  The 
last-named  told  that  the  party  looked  over  the  country 
and  finally  selected  a  location  for  a  town.  He  wrote,  "We 
traveled  from  one  end  of  the  valley  to  the  other  on  both 
sides  of  the  river,  looking  for  the  best  place  to  take  out  a 
ditch,  because  we  had  very  little  means  and  could  not  go 
to  large  expense.  This  (near  the  location  of  Smithville, 
later  known  as  Pima)  seemed  to  be  about  the  easiest  place 
on  the  river  to  take  out  water,  so  we  decided  on  making 
the  location  here." 

The  Smithville  ditch  was  on  the  basis  of  prior  location 
by  Gillespie  and  was  extended  to  cover  the  Mormon  land 
in  1880.  Somewhat  higher  was  the  Central  ditch,  which 
had  been  built  several  years  before  as  far  down  as  the  later 
site  of  Thatcher  and  which  was  extended  above  Pima  in 
1882. 

Somewhat  of  a  Samaritan  was  found  on  the  ground  in 
one  Markham,  from  Oregon,  from  whom  were  hired  a  team 
and  wagon  and  who  refused  to  take  any  pay.  With  a  pocket 
compass,  Smithville  was  laid  out.  The  settlement  could 
not  be  scattered,  because  Indians  and  outlaws  threatened. 
Foundations  were  laid  on  sixteen  corners,  each  under  the 
name  of  one  of  the  families  expected  to  come  from  the  north. 

The  pioneer  party  then  made  close  investigation  of  the 

245 


valley,  traveling  up  the  Gila  into  New  Mexico,  and  viewed 
the  country  around  Clifton  and  along  the  Blue  and  Black 
Rivers.    The  whole  trip  took  about  a  month. 

The  report  was,  "that  the  country  looked  good  for  stock 
raising  and  farming."  On  March  16,  at  Moses  Cluff's  camp, 
the  proposed  migration  was  approved  by  Stake  President 
Jesse  N.  Smith,  who  appointed  Jos.  K.  Rogers  to  lead  it. 
In  the  first  company  were  Rogers,  Teeples,  Weech,  Henry 
D.  Dall,  William  Thompson  and  the  families  of  all  except 
Weech  and  Dall.  To  these  were  added  John  and  Thomas 
Sessions  and  Earlton  Haws,  making  28  in  all.  Arrival  was 
on  April  8,  1879.  The  Cluffs  (three  families)  came  very 
soon  after  the  first  party.  In  a  later  migration  came  Samuel 
Curtis,  Heber  Reed,  Edgar  Sessions  and  William  Asay. 

E.  G.  Curtis,  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  settlers,  told  that 
in  passing  Fort  Thomas  in  March,  "the  country  is  found 
entirely  covered  with  poppies,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sights  I  ever  expect  to  see.  The  grass  was  high  and  when 
the  wind  would  blow  it  down  in  great  waves,  you  could 
see  great  bunches  of  antelope." 

A  Second  Party  Locates  at  Graham 

In  the  Church  history  of  Graham  Ward  is  found  ad- 
ditional data  concerning  the  early  Gila  Valley  settlement. 
It  is  told  that,  "the  settlers  of  Brigham  City  on  the  Little 
Colorado,  getting  discouraged  because  of  frequent  failures 
of  crops  and  poor  prospects,  sent  explorers  out  to  look  for 
new  locations.  Two  went  to  the  San  Juan  country  in  Utah, 
two  to  the  Salt  River  Valley  and  three,  George  Lake, 
Andrew  Anderson  and  George  Skinner,  to  the  Gila  River." 
The  journey  was  via  Fort  Apache,  the  arrival  at  Smith- 
ville  being  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  1880.  At  the 
Graham  settlement  there  was  purchase  of  a  water  ditch 
and  a  quit-claim  deed  to  four  quarter-sections  of  land  that 
had  been  farmed  by  non-Mormons.  The  record  recites, 
"it  was  merely  a  rustlers'  ranch,  possessed  by  horsethieves 

246 


and  speculators  who  had  a  small  house  on  it,  for  which  the 
brethren  paid  about  $1800,  in  cows  valued  at  $35  per  head.'* 

Lake  remained  in  the  valley.  Anderson  and  Skinner  re- 
turned in  December  to  Brigham  City,  where  the  authorities 
of  the  United  Order  accepted  the  purchase.  Anderson  and 
Skinner  started  again  for  the  Gila,  accompanied  by  their 
families,  by  Moses  M.  Curtis  and  William  Hawkins  and 
their  families  and  a  number  of  unmarried  men,  taking  with 
them  seed  grain,  farming  implements,  cows,  sheep  and  other 
animals.  Transportation  was  by  ox  teams.  Christmas  Day 
was  spent  at  St.  Joseph  on  the  Little  Colorado  and  New 
Year  at  Showlow,  arrival  on  the  Gila  being  in  January. 
Lake,  in  the  meantime,  had  been  joined  by  Jorgen  Jorgen- 
sen  and  Jerome  J.  Adams,  the  two  who  had  been  sent  to 
the  Salt  River  Valley. 

The  new  arrivals  at  once  set  at  work,  clearing  their 
lands  and  putting  in  grain,  raising  good  crops.  The  manual 
labor,  of  the  hardest  sort,  was  performed  under  the  con- 
ditions of  the  United  Order  and  on  a  diet  principally  of 
bread  and  beans.  The  sheep  band  was  turned  over  to  the 
Church,  as  profits  of  the  Order,  and  the  wheat  and  other 
products  were  divided  according  to  the  number  of  families 
and  the  number  of  persons.  A  stockade  fort  was  built,  but 
the  homes  for  months  consisted  of  sheds  or  tents  and  even 
of  the  wagons.  In  1884,  on  the  newly-surveyed  townsite 
of  Graham,  was  built  a  meeting  house,  called  the  "factory 
house,"  with  mesquite  posts  and  dirt  roof  and  with  walls 
only  of  heavy  unbleached  muslin,  which  appears  to  have 
been  called  ''factory.** 

One  of  the  early  settlements  of  the  Gila  Valley  is  Mat- 
thews (successively  Matthewsville,  Fairview  and  Glenbar), 
founded  in  December,  1880,  by  Joseph  Matthews  and  fam- 
ily, from  Round  Valley,  and  Wm.  R.  Waddill.  In  1881  they 
built  a  stockade  and  though  no  local  Indian  depredations 
were  known,  in  that  year  the  Matthews  settlers  moved 
to  Pima  for  better  protection.     A  townsite  was  selected 

247 


by  the  Stake  President  September  17,  1886,  but  was  not 
occupied.  A  resident  of  note  was  the  first  district  school 
teacher,  John  F.  Nash,  who  came  with  his  father  to  Ari- 
zona in  1874,  first  setthng  in  WilHamson  Valley  near  Pres- 
cott.  He  arrived  in  the  valley  in  1881,  the  progress  of  the 
family  toward  Texas  stopped  on  the  Gila  by  the  stealing 
of  a  band  of  Nash  horses  by  "rustlers." 

Vicissitudes  of  Pioneering 

Eden,  first  known  as  Curtis,  lies  on  the  northern  side 
of  the  Gila,  nine  miles  northwest  of  Pima.  It  dates  from 
early  in  1881,  when  there  was  arrival  from  Brigham  City, 
Arizona,  of  a  party  of  United  Order  settlers,  headed  by 
Moses  M.  Curtis.  Though  other  immigrants  occupied  hold- 
ings nearby,  M.  M.  Cm-tis  and  Wm.  R.  Hawkins  were  the 
only  residents  of  the  present  Eden  townsite  in  1881.  The 
men  first  turned  their  attention  toward  the  construction  of 
a  ditch  from  the  river,  this  completed  the  following  year. 
For  a  while  the  young  community  was  on  very  short 
rations.  At  times  there  could  be  only  one  meal  a  day,  that 
a  meager  one  of  beans,  served  at  noon  to  the  workers,  who 
scarcely  could  summon  strength  for  more  than  a  half  day's 
labor. 

Some  of  the  early  settlers  built  boweries  of  brush  under 
which  they  rolled  their  covered  wagons,  to  secure  better 
protection  from  the  pitiless  Arizona  summer  sun,  and  with 
no  other  home  for  weeks.  There  were  Indian  "scares,"  as 
elsewhere  told,  and  life  was  far  from  comfortable,  with 
occasional  crossing  of  the  Gila  at  flood  to  secure  protection 
at  the  more  populous  Pima.  In  January,  1882,  was  a  moving 
back  to  five  log  houses  that  had  been  built  on  the  Curtis 
townsite,  but  even  after  that  was  flight  to  Pima  when  word 
came  of  an  Indian  raid.  In  the  fall  of  1882  eight  families 
were  living  in  a  little  stockade  fort  that  enclosed  a  half 
acre  of  ground,  near  the  river.  The  present  townsite  was 
located  May  10,  1883. 

248 


Gila  Communities  of  the  Faith 

Thatcher,  present  Stake  headquarters,  derives  its  name 
from  Apostle  Moses  Thatcher,  who  was  a  Christmas  visitor 
in  1882,  in  company  with  Apostle  Erastus  Snow.  The 
first  settler  was  John  M.  Moody,  who  came  with  his  family 
from  Utah,  arriving  when  Natm-e  had  warm  welcome 
indeed,  on  July  4,  1881.  In  1882  he  was  joined  by  the  Cluff 
and  Zufelt  families  and  by  James  Pace  of  the  Mormon 
Battalion,  who  built  a  stockade,  and  a  little  later  by  Hyrum 
Brinkerhoff  and  wife  Margaret,  "Aunt  Maggie,"  who 
bought  and  occupied  the  Moody  place.  They  were  promi- 
nent among  the  Southern  Utah  and  Muddy  pioneers. 

The  Thatcher  townsite  was  selected  by  President  Lay- 
ton  May  13,  1883,  a  school  district  being  established  the 
following  month.  Among  the  arrivals  of  the  following  year 
was  Samuel  Claridge,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Muddy 
section.  October  19,  1885,  the  presidency  located  anew 
townsite  about  one-half  mile  to  the  southward  and  on 
higher  land.  Much  of  the  old  Moody  ranch  since  the  Brin- 
kerhoff purchase  has  disappeared,  from  the  encroachments 
of  the  Gila  River. 

Bryce,  across  the  river  from  Pima,  dates  from  January, 
1883,  when  Ebenezer  Bryce,  Sr.,  and  sons  commenced  con- 
struction of  a  ditch,  completed  the  next  year.  The  first 
house  was  that  of  Ebenezer  P.  Bryce,  occupied  in  Decem- 
ber, 1884. 

Central,  between  Thatcher  and  Pima,  took  its  name 
from  the  Central  canal,  which  irrigates  part  of  the  settle- 
ment. Its  first  settlers  were  Orson  and  Joseph  Cluff  of 
Forest  Dale,  from  which  they  came  southward  in  the  spring 
of  1882. 

The  Hubbard  settlement  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  Graham 
and  Bryce  wards  and  is  of  comparatively  late  occupation. 
It  is  named  after  Elisha  F.  Hubbard,  Sr.,  the  first  ward 
bishop. 

The  Laj^on  settlement,  named  for  the  first  stake  presi- 


249 


dent,  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous,  and  is  the  third  in 
order  of  population  of  the  St.  Joseph  Stake  wards.  The 
first  settler  was  Hyrum  H.  Tippets,  who  came  January 
13,  1883,  direct  from  Brigham  City,  Utah. 

The  Franklin  settlement,  above  Duncan  on  the  Gila,  is 
about  seven  miles  in  length,  most  of  it  in  Arizona,  though 
lapping  over  into  New  Mexico.  Its  first  Mormon  settler 
was  Thomas  J.  Nations,  in  1895.  He  joined,  with  others 
of  the  brethren,  in  taking  out  a  canal.  Thomas  A.  McGrath 
is  understood  to  have  been  the  first  settler  of  the  locality. 
The  name  was  given  in  1898,  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of 
Apostles  John  Henry  Smith  and  John  W.  Taylor,  and  is  in 
honor  of  Franklin  D.  Richards,  an  apostle  of  the  Church, 
who  in  no  wise  had  been  associated  with  Arizona 
affairs.  In  the  same  vicinity,  wholly  in  New  Mexico,  is 
the  settlement  of  Virden,  mainly  populated  by  refugees  from 
Mexico.  In  these  upper  Gila  communities  the  Mormons 
have  created  a  veritable  garden,  where  careless  cultivation 
had  been  known. 

Graham  County  was  created  by  the  Arizona  Legislature 
in  the  spring  of  1881,  the  settlement  south  of  the  Gila 
theretofore  having  been  in  Pima  County.  The  first  county 
seat  was  Safford,  but  county  government  was  transferred 
to  Solomonville  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1883.  In 
1915,  after  the  setting  off  of  Greenlee  County,  the  court- 
house went  back  to  Safford. 

Considering  the  Lamanites 

In  the  entertaining  flood  of  reminiscence  that  comes 
from  almost  any  of  the  devout  pioneers,  there  often  is  found 
expression  of  abiding  belief  of  personal  protection  extended 
by  Omnipotence.  Possibly,  save  in  the  development  of 
character  by  trials  and  by  tribulation,  the  average  pioneer 
of  the  faith,  from  a  present  viewpoint,  would  appear  to 
have  been  little  favored,  yet  thankful  devotion  ever  was 
present. 

One  story  that  indicated  celestial  intervention  in  time 

250 


of  danger,  has  been  told  by  Orson  Cluff.  He  and  several 
brothers  and  their  families  were  on  the  road  south  from 
Forest  Dale  to  the  Gila,  and  had  camped  at  a  point  twenty 
miles  south  of  Fort  Apache.  In  the  morning  there  was  the 
usual  prayer,  from  which  the  company  arose,  refreshed  in 
spirit,  for  another  hard  day's  journey.  A  short  time  later, 
an  Indian  told  how  he  was  a  member  of  a  band  of  redskins 
that  lay  in  ambush  about  the  Mormon  camp  that  very 
morning.  The  work  of  massacre  was  about  to  begin  when 
the  intended  victims  were  seen  to  drop  upon  their  knees 
and  to  lift  their  hands  aloft  in  supplication.  The  startled 
Indians  were  overcome  by  some  mysterious  power  and 
stole  away.  Possibly  they  feared  that  potent  "medicine" 
was  being  made  against  them,  but  the  Cluffs  are  sure  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  had  descended  to  save  them  for  further 
earthly  experience. 

The  Gila  Valley  saw  much  of  Indian  rapine  in  its  earlier 
days.  The  section  considered  in  this  chapter  lies  just  east 
of  the  San  Carlos  Apache  reservation  and  is  flanked  on 
the  northward  by  the  White  Mountain  reservation.  When 
the  California  Column,  under  General  Carleton,  was  estab- 
lished in  Arizona  in  1863,  after  beating  the  Confederates 
back  beyond  the  Rio  Grande,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
establish  military  stations  in  that  locality.  Camp  Goodwin, 
named  after  the  first  Governor  of  the  Territory,  was  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  valley.  A  number  of  years  after  its 
abandonment,  there  was  established,  five  miles  to  the  east- 
ward. Camp  Thomas,  maintained  until  after  the  final 
subjugation  of  the  hostile  Indians.  Thomas  was  a  veritable 
guard  post  for  the  Mormon  settlers.  To  the  southwest 
was  Camp  Grant,  in  the  northern  extension  of  the  Sulphur 
Springs  Valley,  this  post  a  successor  to  old  Camp  Grant, 
which  was  at  the  mouth  of  Aravaipa  Creek,  at  the  junction 
of  that  stream  with  the  San  Pedro  River.  To  the  north- 
ward was  Fort  Apache  and  to  the  southward  Fort 
Bowie. 


251 


The  Hostile  Chiricahuas 

The  native  Pinaleno  Indians  of  the  San  Carlos  region, 
while  inclined  toward  spasmodic  outbreaks,  were  not  as 
hostile  as  their  western  neighbors,  the  Mohave  and  Yuma 
Apaches.  A  very  dangerous  element  was  added  when,  in 
1876,  under  direction  of  the  army.  Agent  John  P.  Clum 
moved  to  San  Carlos  325  Indians  of  the  Chiricahua-Apache 
strain  from  a  reservation  in  southeastern  Arizona.  Within 
a  few  years,  4500  Indians  were  concentrated  at  San  Carlos. 
The  Chiricahuas,  unsettled  and  forever  yearning  to  get 
back  to  the  scene  of  their  marauding  along  the  emigrant 
road  to  the  southward  and  in  Mexico,  constantly  were 
shpping  away  from  the  reservation  by  individuals  and  by 
bands,  and  their  highway  usually  was  up  the  river.  In  the 
early  eighties  the  settlers  along  the  Gila  lived  forever  in 
terror  of  the  savage  foe.  The  military  was  efficient.  Hard- 
riding  troopers  would  dash  forth  from  one  or  all  of  the 
guardian  posts  whenever  danger  threatened,  and  to  these 
same  troops  undoubtedly  is  due  the  fact  that  general 
massacres  were  not  known  in  and  around  the  Gila  Valley 
towns. 

Often  the  Author  finds  in  the  manuscripts  of  personal 
experiences  that  have  been  accumulated  by  the  score  in  his 
office,  a  note  indicating  the  conditions  under  which  the  land 
WEts  settled.  There  have  been  attempts  in  other  parts  of 
this  work  to  make  clear  the  fact  that  the  Mormons  always 
tried  to  be  friendly  with  the  Indians  and  suffered  without 
protest  treatment  from  the  aborigines  that  would  have  led 
to  the  shedding  of  blood  by  others.  One  interesting  little 
item  of  this  sort  is  in  a  record  contributed  by  Mrs.  W.  R. 
Teeples.  She  found  the  Indians  on  the  Gila  River  in  1879 
were  friendly,  possibly  too  much  so.  She  wrote,  "When 
I  was  cooking  pancakes  over  the  fire  in  our  camp,  the  In- 
dians would  sit  around  watching,  and  they  would  grab  the 
cakes  out  of  the  pan  before  they  were  done,  so  I  had  to 
cover  the  pancakes  up  to  keep  them  for  ourselves." 

252 


Mrs.  J.  N.  Stratton  wrote  of  the  same  period: 

Besides  the  fear  of  getting  out  of  food  was  the  greater  fear  of  the 
Indians.  They  were  on  the  San  Carlos  reservation  and  were  supposed 
to  be  peaceful,  but  bands  often  went  out  on  the  warpath  and  spread 
terror  throughout  the  country,  so  the  people  never  knew  what  to 
expect  from  them.  The  mesquite  and  sage  brush  were  so  thick  where 
Safifords  streets  and  houses  are  now,  that  one  could  only  see  a  little 
distance,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  occurrence  for  an  Indian  to  slip 
out  from  behind  the  brush  and  come  walking  in  at  the  cabin  door, 
or  put  his  face  up  against  the  window  and  peer  in,  if  the  door  happened 
to  be  closed.  One  settler  who  had  two  doors  had  her  husband  nail 
one  up  so  that  when  the  Indians  did  come  to  call  on  them,  she  could 
stand  in  the  other  door  and  keep  them  from  coming  in.  The  mothers 
never  let  their  children  get  out  of  their  sight,  for  fear  they  would  be 
stolen. 

I.  E.  Solomon  and  his  family  had  many  experiences  with 
the  Indians,  and  in  several  cases  narrowly  escaped  death. 
A  number  of  Solomon's  employes  were  killed  in  the  open 
country  toward  Clifton. 

An  interesting  chronicle  is  from  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hanks 
Curtis,  who  came  with  her  family  in  April,  1881.  Inci- 
dentally, she  is  a  descendant  of  the  Hanks  family,  tracing 
relationship  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  A  mile  above  Eden 
they  built  a  log  fort.  In  September  this  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, word  brought  by  a  friendly  Indian  of  the  coming 
of  a  large  band  of  Indians  and  of  imminent  danger.  Will 
Ransom  from  Pima  provided  a  raft  to  cross  the  river  upon 
and  the  settlers  concentrated  at  Pima.  The  settlers  were 
driven  into  Pima  again  in  April  of  the  following  year,  after 
huddling  for  days  in  Moses  Curtis'  cabin.  Protection 
came  from  Fort  Thomas. 

Murders  by  Indian  Raiders 

July  19,  1882,  Jacob  S.  Ferrin  of  Pima  was  killed  under 
circumstances  of  treachery.  A  freighting  camp,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  was  entered  by  a  number  of  Apaches,  led 
by  **Dutchy,"  escaped  from  custody  at  San  Carlos.  Pre- 
tending amity,  they  seized  the  teamsters'  guns  and  fired 

253 


upon  their  hosts.  Ferrin  was  shot  down,  one  man  was 
wounded  and  the  others  escaped. 

On  the  morning  of  December  1,  1885,  Lorenzo  and  Seth 
Wright  were  killed  by  Indians  who  had  been  combing  the 
valley  for  horses.  The  Wrights  had  started,  with  members 
of  a  posse,  from  Layton,  and  were  joined  at  Solomonville 
by  Sheriff  Stevens  and  two  other  men,  after  there  had 
been  recovered  a  number  of  the  stolen  horses,  for  the 
pursuers  rode  harder  and  faster  than  the  fleeing  thieves. 
There  had  been  assumption  that  the  thieves  were  Mexicans 
and  so  there  was  an  element  of  recklessness  in  the  pursuit 
that  would  have  been  missing  had  the  truth  been  known, 
that  they  were  Apaches.  The  four  leading  men  of  the  posse 
were  ambushed  by  the  redskins,  who  had  halted  by  the 
roadside.  Seth  Wright  was  shot  from  his  horse.  His 
brother  immediately  dismounted  and  opened  fire  upon  the 
Indians.  Lorenzo's  right  arm  was  broken  by  a  bullet,  and 
then,  while  he  was  running,  he  was  shot  in  the  back. 

This  same  band  had  killed  a  man  and  a  boy  at  Black 
Rock  and  a  herdsman  at  Bear  Springs  Flat. 

May  23,  1886,  Frank  Thurston  of  Pima,  while  start- 
ing a  lime  kiln,  six  miles  from  the  town,  was  surprised  by 
eight  Apaches  and  killed.  This  band  passed  by  the  Curtis 
settlement,  driving  off  a  number  of  horses. 

Concerning  the  Indian  situation,  James  H.  Martineau, 
on  June  1,  1886,  wrote  that  the  Apaches  then  were  riding 
in  many  small  bands,  but  were  kept  on  the  move  con- 
stantly by  the  vigorous  measures  of  General  Miles,  and  he 
assumes  that  the  Apache  question  would  have  been  settled 
had  his  predecessor,  General  Crook,  been  less  dilatory. 
The  writer  expressed  his  conclusion  that  in  military  skill, 
strategy  and  ability  the  Indians  far  excelled  their  op- 
ponents, and  details  that  fifty  or  sixty  Apaches  the  year 
before  had  killed  more  than  75  white  settlers,  all  the  while 
pursued  by  seventeen  companies  of  United  States  troops, 
without  losing  a  single  Indian. 

254 


Outlawry  Along  the  Gila 

The  Mormons  of  the  Gila  Valley  maintained  most 
amicable  relations  with  their  neighbors,  but  occasionally 
had  to  participate  in  some  of  the  ordinary  frontier  episodes. 
James  R.  Welker,  an  arrival  in  Safford  in  1883,  tells  that, 
"The  cowboys  had  things  about  their  own  way  for  a  few 
years.  They  would  ride  right  into  a  town,  go  straight  to 
the  saloon  and  commence  shooting  the  place  up.  They 
were  expert  with  the  pistol  too.  I  have  seen  some  very 
wonderful  shots  among  those  cowboys.  They  did  not  do 
much  killing  around  here,  but  they  were  pretty  wild  and 
did  about  as  they  pleased."  W.  T.  Barney  wrote,  "The 
rustlers  gave  us  quite  a  bit  of  trouble,  perhaps  even  more 
than  the  Indians." 

The  peaceful  Saints  in  the  Gila  Valley  undoubtedly 
found  much  that  was  foreign  to  their  habits  of  life.  A  tale 
of  the  frolicsome  cowboy  is  told  by  Isaac  P.  Robinson  of 
Thatcher,  who  was  in  Safford  in  1884: 

There  were  but  very  few  houses  in  Safford  then.  About  the  only 
business  house  was  the  Glasby  building,  which  had  a  saloon  and  also 
a  store.  The  cowboys  had  things  about  their  own  way.  They  would 
come  into  the  store  and  take  possession.  Mr.  Glasby  would  go  out 
and  leave  it  to  them.  They  would  shoot  up  the  store,  help  them- 
selves to  what  they  wanted,  pay  for  everything  they  had  taken,  shoot 
up  the  town  and  go  on.  But  I  don't  want  to  see  any  more  of  it. 
You  haven't  the  remotest  idea  what  a  lot  of  trouble  they  made.  This 
was  the  main  route  from  the  north  into  Mexico  and  the  principal 
rendezvous  for  a  lot  of  those  rough  characters. 

In  the  way  of  outlawry,  the  valley  had  unwelcome  no- 
toriety, when  from  its  rougher  element  was  constituted  a 
band  which,  May  11,  1889,  ambushed  Paymaster  J.  W. 
Wham  of  the  United  States  army,  on  the  road  between 
Fort  Grant  and  Fort  Thomas,  and  stole  about  $28,000  in 
gold  and  silver,  intended  for  the  pay  of  the  troops  at  the 
latter  post.  An  escort  of  eleven  colored  infantrymen,  led 
by  a  sergeant,  apparently  deserted  by  the  Major,  fought 
well,  but  was  driven  away  after  five  of  the  soldiers  had  been 

255 


wounded.  Thirteen  bandits  were  understood  to  have  been 
implicated.  Eight  individuals  were  arrested.  There  was 
trial  at  Tucson,  where  Wham  and  the  soldiers  were  notably- 
poor  witnesses  and  where  the  defendants  were  acquitted. 

A  Gray  Highway  of  Danger 

Just  as  the  Mormon  settlements  on  the  Little  Colorado 
providentially  were  given  assistance  by  the  building  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  railroad,  just  so  the  struggling  pioneers 
on  the  Gila  found  benefit  in  the  opening  of  the  silver  and 
copper  mines  at  Globe.  Freight  teams  were  in  demand 
for  hauling  coke  and  supplies  from  the  railroad  at  Willcox 
and  Bowie  and  for  hauling  back  from  the  mines  the  copper 
bullion.  Much  of  this  freighting  was  done  with  great 
teams  of  mules  and  horses,  veritable  caravans,  owned  by 
firms  such  as  Tully  &  Ochoa  or  M.  G.  Samaniego  of  Tucson, 
but  enough  was  left  for  the  two  and  four-horse  teams  of 
the  Mormons,  who  thus  were  enabled  from  the  hauling 
of  a  few  tons  of  coke  to  provide  provisions  for  their  families 
and  implements  for  the  tilling  of  their  fields. 

The  road  from  the  railroad  to  Globe  ofttimes  was  a  gray 
highway  of  danger.  After  leaving  the  Gila  towns,  it  led 
through  the  length  of  the  Apache  Indian  reservation. 
Usually  the  teams  went  in  sort  of  military  order.  The 
larger  "outfits'"  had  strict  rules  for  defense,  each  driver 
with  his  pistol  and  rifle  and  each  "swamper"  similarly 
armed.  Every^  night  the  wagons  were  drawn  into  a  circle, 
within  which  the  horses  were  corralled  or  tied  to  the 
wagon  poles,  where  they  were  fed.  Pickets  were  kept 
out  and  care  was  incessant  day  and  night. 

But,  sometimes,  a  freighter,  eager  to  earn  extra  pay  for 
a  quick  trip,  or  wishing  to  drive  ahead  of  the  cloud  of  dust 
that  enveloped  each  large  convoy,  would  push  along  by 
himself.  Possibly  the  next  day,  the  train  would  come  to 
the  embers  of  what  had  been  wagons  and  their  contents. 
Nearby  would  be  the  bodies  of  the  tortured  and  murdered 
teamsters.     So  the  careful  ones  united,  remaining  at  the 

256 


railroad  until  at  least  a  score  of  wagons  had  accumulated, 
and  then  made  their  way  northward,  relatively  safe 
through  united  vigilance. 

In  1899  the  Gila  Valley,  Globe  &  Northern  railroad  was 
completed  from  Bowie,  through  the  Gila  Valley  towns,  to 
Globe,  a  distance  of  124  miles,  though  the  loss  to  the 
freighters  was  more  than  balanced  by  the  general  good 
to  the  community  of  bettered  transportation  faciHties. 
Right-of-way  through  the  reservation  was  accorded  by  the 
Indians  after  a  diplomatic  distribution  to  them  by  a 
railroad  agent  of  $8000,  all  in  silver  coin. 


257 


Chapter  Tioenty-ihree 


Troublesome  River  Conditions 

In  the  memory  of  Americans  still  living,  the  Gila  River 
through  the  Safford  region,  was  a  relatively  narrow  stream, 
over  which  in  places  a  stone  could  be  tossed.  There  were 
occasional  lagoons,  some  of  them  created  by  beaver  dams — 
picturesque,  but  breeding  places  for  mosquitoes  and  sources 
of  malaria.  Camp  Goodwin  was  abandoned  because  of 
malarial  conditions  in  1869-70,  troops  being  transferred  to 
the  new  post  of  Camp  Ord  (Apache). 

The  river  situation  of  later  years  has  been  very  differ- 
ent indeed  from  that  known  to  the  pioneers.  The  lagoons 
drained  and  the  underbrush,  grass  and  trees  cut  away,  the 
river  floods  have  had  full  sweep  and,  as  a  result,  there  has 
been  tremendous  loss  in  the  washing  away  of  the  lower 
lying  land.  The  farms  have  been  pushed  back  toward  the 
mesas.  Now  under  consideration  is  a  comprehensive 
irrigation  system  that  will  cost  several  millions  of  dollars, 
with  a  great  concrete  diversion  dam  above  Solomonville 
and  with  two  head  canals  that  economically  will  serve  both 
sides  of  the  river. 

But  in  the  early  days  the  colonists  did  what  they  could, 
not  what  economically  was  advisable.  They  did  not  have 
such  trouble  as  was  known  along  the  Little  Colorado  and 
their  water  supply  was  much  larger  and  somewhat  more 
regular.  They  took  out  little  canals  at  different  points, 
with  head  works  that  were  easily  replaced  when  washed 
away. 

For  a  few  years  around  1910,  there  appeared  a  prospect 

258 


that  the  Gila  Valley  farms  would  have  to  be  abandoned 
unless  something  could  be  done  to  stop  the  flow  of  tailings 
from  the  concentrating  mills  of  the  Clifton-Morenci  country, 
on  the  San  Francisco  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Gila.  The 
finely  pulverized  rock  was  brought  down  in  the  irrigation 
water  and  spread  out  upon  the  fields  in  a  thick  layer, 
almost  impervious  to  the  growth  of  vegetation.  Mit 
Simms,  then  a  farmer  near  Safford,  tells  that  the  dried 
tailings  upon  his  farm  spread  out  in  a  smooth  sheet,  that 
could  be  broken  like  glass,  with  a  blow  from  a  hammer. 
The  mining  companies  refused  to  heed  demand  to  im- 
pound their  tailings  flow,  and  so  the  matter  was  taken 
into  the  courts.  Decisions  uniformly  were  with  the  sef- 
tlers,  the  matter  finally  being  disposed  of  in  their  favor  in 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Then  the  companies, 
using  the  tailings  material  for  the  making  of  dams,  created 
great  taihngs  reservoirs  in  the  hills  near  their  plants,  and 
filled  up  valley  after  valley  with  the  rejected  material. 
Incidentally,  they  spent  in  this  work  enormous  sums, 
believed  to  have  been  sufficient  to  have  bought  all  the 
farms  of  the  Gila  Valley,  at  the  price  put  upon  them  ten 
years  ago.  This  expended  money,  however,  may  yet  be 
returned,  for  plans  have  been  set  afoot  for  leaching  copper 
treasure  out  of  the  tailings  banks. 

Artesian  water  was  struck  in  the  Gila  Valley  in  1887, 
according  to  John  A.  Lee,  understood  to  have  been  the  first 
well  borer  in  the  artesian  district,  within  which  are  the 
present  towns  of  Algodon  (otherwise  Lebanon)  and  Artesia. 
The  first  water  was  struck  at  a  depth  of  330  feet  and  better 
flows  were  secured  with  deeper  borings  down  to  1000  feet. 

The  first  few  years  of  the  Gila  Valley  settlement,  every 
alternate  section  was  assumed  to  be  the  property  of  the 
Texas  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  a  land  grant  claimed  by 
the  Southern  Pacific.  This  claim  was  decided  against  by 
the  United  States  authorities  early  in  1885,  and  the  lands 
thus  were  thrown  open  to  entry  by  the  settlers.     Pima  was 

259 


on  railroad  land  and  filing  of  its  townsite  formally  was 
accomplished  by  Mayor  W.  W.  Crockett. 

Basic  Law  in  a  Mormon  Community 

Interest  attaches  to  the  Church  commission,  dated 
February  20,  1883,  received  by  Christopher  Layton  on  his 
appointment  as  head  of  the  San  Pedro  and  Gila  Valley 
settlers.  It  was  signed  by  John  Taylor  and  Jos.  F.  Smith 
of  the  First  Presidency  and  contains  instructions  and 
admonitions  that  might  well  have  served  as  a  basic  law 
of  any  God-fearing  community. 

President  Layton  was  instructed  to  see  that  the  settlers 
did  not  scatter  themselves  promiscuously  throughout  the 
land,  that  surveys  be  made  for  townsites,  that  the  people 
settle  in  these  localities,  with  facilities  for  public  schools 
and  meeting  houses,  and  that  due  provision  be  made  to 
protect  the  settlers  against  depredations  of  the  lawless  and 
unprincipled  combinations  of  brigands  and  other  hostile 
marauders. 

A  notably  interesting  paragraph  recites,  "You  will 
understand  that  our  object  in  the  organization  of  the  Stake 
of  St.  Joseph  is  to  introduce  the  Gospel  into  the  Mexican 
nation,  or  that  part  of  it  which  lies  contiguous  to  your 
present  settlement,  and  also,  when  prudence  shall  dictate 
and  proper  arrangements  are  entered  into,  that  a  settle- 
ment may  commence  to  be  made  in  that  country." 

It  was  recommended,  in  forming  cities  either  in  Arizona 
or  Mexico,  "care  should  be  had  to  place  them  in  proper 
localities,  convenient  to  land  and  water,  with  careful 
examination  of  the  sanitary  conditions.  It  is  the  general 
opinion  that  it  is  more  healthy  and  salubrious  on  the 
plateaus  or  mesas  than  on  the  low  land,  the  latter  of  which 
in  your  district  of  country  are  more  or  less  subject  to 
malarial  diseases,  which  ought,  always,  when  practicable, 
to  be  avoided." 

The  streets  should  be  wide  and  commodious,with  public 
squares  for  church,  county,  school  and  ornamental  purposes. 

260 


(ilLA  VALLEY  PIOXEEKS 


1 — Wm.    R.    Teeples 
3 — Jos.   K.   Rogers 
fi — Samuel  H.  Claridge 


2 — John   M.    Moody 
4 — Ebenezei-    Eryce       5 — Hyrum    Brinkerhoff 
7 — Frank   N.    Tyler 


riOX EER  WOMEN  OF  THE  GILA   \ALLEY 

1 — Elizabeth    Hanks   Curtis  2 — Mrs     W.   R.   Teeples 

3 — Elizabeth   Moody        4 — Margaret    Brinkerhoff      5 — Llizabeth   Layton 
6 — Josephine    Wall    Rogers  7— Rebecca  Claridge 


School  and  church  afifairs  should  be  kept  separate.  There 
was  warning  against  favoritism  in  the  allotment  of  town 
lands  and  a  recommendation  that  the  principles  of  the 
United  Order  be  approached,  without  the  placing  of  the 
communities  under  rigid  rules. 

Another  interesting  paragraph  recites,  "The  order  of 
Zion  when  carried  out,  will  be  that  all  men  should  act  in 
the  interest  of  and  for  the  welfare  of  Zion,  and  individual- 
ism, private  speculation  and  covetousness  will  be  avoided, 
and  that  all  act  in  the  interest  of  all  and  for  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  community.  We  may  not,  at  present,  be 
able  to  carry  out  these  ideas  in  full,  but  without  any 
special  formality  or  rule,  we  may  be  approaching  these 
principles  as  fast  as  circumstances  will  admit  of  it.  We 
profess  to  be  acting  and  operating  for  God,  and  for  His 
Kingdom,  and  we  are  desirous  that  our  acts  should  be  in 
consonance  with  our  professions." 

In  the  selection  of  elders,  care  was  enjoined  that  all 
such  persons  should  be  honorable,  free  from  any  per- 
nicious or  degrading  habits,  "for  if  men  cannot  control 
themselves,  they  are  not  fit  to  be  rulers  or  leaders  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God." 

There  was  special  injunction  that  the  Lamanites,  the 
Indians,  be  treated  with  all  consideration  and  shown  that 
the  Mormons  do  not  teach  one  thing  and  practice  another.^ 
The  Indians  should  be  taught  to  be  "friendly  with  the 
government  of  the  United  States  or  Mexico  and  to  live  at 
peace  with  one  another,  to  be  chaste,  sober  and  honest 
and  subject  to  the  law  of  God." 

Tithing  of  one-tenth  was  stipulated  as  in  the  interest  of 
the  people.  The  new  leader  was  advised  that,  "God  has 
placed  you  as  a  watchman  on  the  walls  of  Zion  and  He  will 
hold  you  accountable  for  your  acts,"  and  he  was  directed 
to  see  that  the  laws  of  God  were  carried  out  in  his  com- 
munity, irrespective  of  persons  or  families. 

261 


Layton    Soldier  and  Pioneer 

Christopher  Layton  was  a  rough  diamond,  almost 
illiterate,  yet  possessed  of  much  energy  and  a  keen,  practical 
judgment  that  served  him  and  his  people  well  through  the 
course  of  a  long  life.  He  was  an  Englishman,  born  in 
Bedfordshire,  March  8,  1821.  His  first  practical  expe- 
rience was  at  7  years  of  age,  when  he  kept  crows  from  the 
wheatfields  for  the  large  salary  of  56  cents  a  week,  boarding 
himself.  In  1843  he  crossed  the  ocean.  Elsewhere  is 
noted  his  experience  with  the  Mormon  Battalion.  Follow- 
ing discharge,  for  a  few  years  he  lived  in  California,  finally 
taking  ship  from  San  Francisco  back  to  Liverpool,  where  he 
arrived  in  March,  1850.  On  the  same  ship's  return,  James 
Pennell  led  250  converts  to  America,  landing  at  New 
Orleans  proceeding  by  river  to  St.  Louis,  and  then  Utah. 

In  September,  1852,  Layton  first  saw  Salt  Lake,  arriv- 
ing at  the  head  of  an  expedition  of  52  wagons,  including 
the  first  threshing  outfit  in  Utah.  In  1856  he  was  in  the 
Carson  Valley  of  Nevada,  where  he  proceeded  toward  the 
very  notable  undertaking  of  building  a  wagon  road  across 
the  Sierra  Nevadas  to  Hangtown,  early  Placerville.  With 
the  rest  of  the  Utah  Saints,  he  was  recalled  to  Salt  Lake  in 
the  fall  of  1857. 

Layton  arrived  at  St.  David  February  24,  1883.  In 
May  he  organized  wards  on  the  Gila,  at  Pima,  Thatcher, 
Graham  and  Curtis,  under  Jos.  K.  Rogers,  John  M.  Moody, 
Jorgen  Jorgensen  and  Moses  Curtis.  In  March  of  the  next 
year,  he  organized  Layton  branch  near  Safford. 

President  Layion*s  own  story  of  his  advent  in  the  Gila 
Valley  includes: 

The  Saints  were  wanting  to  settle  close  together,  so  I  bought  a 
600-acre  tract  of  land  of  a  syndicate  living  in  Tucson.  Then  I  bought 
out  the  squatters'  rights  and  improvements  by  taking  quit-claim 
deeds  of  them.  Thus  I  was  in  a  position  to  help  the  Saints  to  get 
homes.  In  July  I  bought  320  acres  of  Peter  Anderson  (adjoining  the 
other  tract)  and  laid  it  out  in  a  townsite  which  we  named  Thatcher. 
I  built  a  three-roomed  adobe  house  in  Thatcher  ward  (it  being  the 

262 


second  house  built  on  the  townsite)  and  we  moved  into  it.  I  gave 
a  lot  for  a  schoolhouse  and  the  few  Saints  who  were  settling  here  then 
built  an  adobe  building  on  it.  The  mesquite  was  so  thick  that  when 
we  tried  to  go  any  place  we  were  very  fortunate  if  we  did  not  get 
lost.  I  gave  the  Seventies  a  lot,  but  they  never  made  any  use  of  it; 
also  gave  the  bishop  a  lot  for  tithing  purposes.  The  Academy  was 
afterward  built  on  it, 

Layton,  aided  by  his  many  sons,  was  active  in  business, 
as  well  as  in  the  faith,  operating  stores,  a  flour  mill,  an  ice 
factory  and  a  number  of  stage  lines,  one  of  which  stretched 
all  the  way  from  Bowie  Station  through  the  Gila  Valley, 
to  Globe,  and,  through  the  Tonto  Basin,  to  Pine  and  Fort 
Verde,  the  longest  stage  mail  line  in  the  Southwest  at  the 
time. 

The  transfer  of  headquarters  of  St.  Joseph  Stake  ap- 
pears to  have  been  determined  upon  very  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  Layton  at  St.  David.  One  of  his  counselors, 
David  P.  Kimball,  visited  Smithville  March  10,  1883,  and 
in  May  Layton  himself  was  on  the  ground,  visiting  Smith- 
ville (Pima)  and  Safford.  There  was  approval  of  the  new 
settlement  of  Curtis  on  May  10  and  on  the  13th  was 
location  of  the  townsite  of  Thatcher. 

At  this  time  there  appears  to  have  been  determination 
to  move  headquarters  of  the  Stake  from  St.  David  to  Smith- 
ville, where  the  first  formal  quarterly  conference  of  the 
Stake  was  held  June  3.  No  record  can  be  found  of  this 
transfer  nor  of  the  subsequent  change  to  Thatcher. 

A  New  Leader  on  the  Gila 

In  1897  President  Layton's  health  declined  and  on 
January  27,  1898,  he  was  released  from  his  spiritual  oflice, 
to  which  was  appointed  Andrew  Kimball,  this  with  a  letter 
from  President  Wilford  Woodruff,  expressing  the  highest 
appreciation  of  Layton's  labors.  Christopher  Layton  left 
Arizona  June  13,  1898,  for  his  old  home  in  Kaysville,  Utah, 
where  he  died  August  7.  At  a  reunion,  about  six  years 
ago,  of  the  Layton  descendants  and  their  famiHes,  were 
present  594  individuals. 

263 


Andrew  Kimball,  successor  to  the  presidency  of  St. 
Joseph  Stake,  had  formal  installation  January  30,  1898,  at 
the  hands  of  Apostles  John  Henry  Smith  and  John  W. 
Taylor,  at  the  same  time  there  being  general  reorganization 
of  the  Church  subdivision.  President  Kimball,  who  still 
most  actively  is  in  office,  is  a  son  of  the  noted  Apostle 
Heber  C.  Kimball,  First  Counselor  to  President  Brigham 
Young.  President  Kimball  from  the  very  first  showed  keen 
enthusiasm  in  the  work  of  upbuilding  his  community.  In 
October  of  the  year  of  his  installation  he  returned  to  Utah, 
like  the  spies  returned  from  the  land  of  Canaan,  bringing 
equally  large  stories  of  the  fertility  of  the  new  land.  In- 
stead of  bearing  a  huge  bunch  of  grapes,  he  had  to  take 
with  him  photographs,  in  order  to  secure  reception  of  his 
stories  of  corn  that  was  sixteen  feet  tall,  Johnson  grass 
eight  feet  high,  a  sweet  potato  that  weighed  36  pounds,  of 
peaches  too  big  to  go  into  the  mouth  of  a  preserving  jar, 
sunflower  stalks  that  were  used  for  fence  poles,  weeds  that 
had  to  be  cut  with  an  ax  and  sugar  cane  that  grew  four 
years  from  one  planting.  On  the  strength  of  his  en- 
thusiasm, very  material  additions  were  made  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Gila  Valley,  and  the  President  even  yet  keeps 
busy  in  missionary  work,  not  only  of  his  Church,  but  work 
calculated  to  assist  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  Southwest 
along  irrigated  agricultural  Unes. 

Church  Academies  of  Learning 

Every  Mormon  community  gives  especial  attention  to 
its  schools,  for  education  in  the  regard  of  the  people  follows 
closely  after  their  consideration  of  spiritual  affairs.  The 
normal  schools  of  the  State  always  have  had  a  very  large 
percentage  of  the  youth  of  the  faith,  training  to  be  teachers. 

Three  of  the  four  Arizona  Stakes  maintain  academies, 
wherein  the  curriculum  also  carries  religious  instruction. 
The  largest  of  the  three  Church  schools,  at  Thatcher, 
lately  was  renamed  the  Gila  Normal  College.  It  was 
established  in  January,  1891,  under  instruction  that  had 

264 


been  received  over  two  years  before  from  the  genera 
Church  Board  of  Education.  Its  first  sessions  were  in 
the  meetinghouse  at  Central,  with  Joy  Dunion  as  principal. 
The  second  year's  work  was  at  Thatcher,  where  the  old 
adobe  meetinghouse  was  occupied.  Thereafter  a  tithing 
house  was  used  and  was  expanded  for  the  growing  neces- 
sities of  the  school,  which  has  been  in  continuous  operation 
ever  since,  with  the  exception  of  two  years  following  1896, 
when  the  finances  of  the  Stake  were  at  low  ebb.  The  acad- 
emy was  revived  on  assumption  of  Andrew  Kimball  to  the 
Stake  Presidency,  under  Principal  Emil  Maeser,  he  a  son 
of  one  of  Utah's  most  noted  educators.  Andrew  C.  Peter- 
son has  been  in  charge  of  the  school  most  of  the  time  since 
1906.  In  1909  was  occupied  a  new  building,  erected  and 
furnished  at  a  cost  of  about  $35,000.  Leland  H.  Creer  now 
is  principal. 

At  St.  Johns  the  St.  Johns  Stake  Academy  was  founded 
January  14,  1889,  with  John  W.  Brown  as  its  first  principal. 
The  present  building  was  dedicated  December  16,  1900. 
Howard  Blazzard  now  is  in  active  charge,  while  Stake 
President  David  K.  Udall,  first  president  of  the  Academy's 
Board,  still  occupies  the  same  position,  after  27  years  of 
service. 

The  Snowflake  Stake  Academy  was  founded,  with  E. 
M.  Webb  in  charge,  only  a  week  later  than  that  of  St. 
Johns.  The  two  institutions  for  many  years  were  the  only 
means  provided  for  local  education,  beyond  the  grammar 
grades.  At  Snowflake  industrial  and  agricultural  courses 
are  given  prominence  in  the  curriculum.  Thanksgiving 
Day,  1910,  fire  destroyed  the  large  school  building,  which 
was  replaced  by  a  more  modern  structure,  that  cost 
$35,000  and  that  was  dedicated  Thanksgiving  Day,  1913. 
For  years  the  school  was  directed  by  Joseph  Peterson. 

At  Mesa,  Chandler  and  Gilbert  are  maintained  semi- 
naries, mainly  for  advanced  instruction  in  Church  doctrine. 


265 


Chapter  Twenty-four 


Looking  Over  the  Land 

The  Mormon  settlement  of  Mexico,  as  elsewhere  told, 
was  a  cherished  plan  of  Brigham  Young,  who  saw  to  the 
southward  a  land  wherein  his  Church,  its  doctrines  and 
influence  could  find  room  for  expansion.  He  died  while 
the  southern  migration  started  by  him  still  was  far  short 
of  a  Mexican  destination,  though  that  country  had  been 
explored  to  an  extent  by  several  missionary  parties. 

The  first  Mormons  to  enter  Mexico  were  the  soldiers  of 
the  Mormon  Battalion  who,  in  1846,  passed  south  of  the 
Gila  in  Mexican  territory,  and  then  entered  the  present 
Mexico  by  a  swing  of  the  column  southward  from  the  San 
Bernardino  ranch  around  to  the  valley  of  the  San  Pedro. 
The  D.  W.  Jones  party  was  the  first  missionary  expedition 
into  Mexico,  crossing  the  Rio  Grande  at  Paso  del  Norte, 
the  present  Juarez,  January  7,  1876.  The  Pratt-Stewart 
party,  including  Meliton  G.  Trejo,  was  in  northern  Mexico 
early  in  '77,  and  small  missionary  parties  followed  there- 
after from  time  to  time. 

November  15,  1879,  Apostle  Moses  Thatcher  was  in 
Mexico  City  with  J.  Z.  Stewart  and  Trejo,  there  founding 
the  first  organization  of  the  Church  within  the  Republic. 

Decided  impetus  was  given  the  southward  movement 
when  it  became  evident  that  the  national  prosecution 
against  plural  marriage  was  to  be  pushed  to  the  extreme. 
January  4,  1883,  with  the  idea  of  finding  an  asylum  for  the 
Saints  in  Mexico,  Apostle  Thatcher  traveled  from  St. 
David  on  the  San  Pedro,  to  the  southeast  as  far  as  Corrali- 


266 


tos,  where  some  arrangement  was  made  for  lands.  In  the 
following  September,  another  party  from  St.  David  ex- 
plored the  country  along  the  Babispe  River.  Still  more 
important,  November  2,  1884,  Apostles  Brigham  Young, 
Jr.,  and  Heber  J.  Grant  investigated  the  Yaqui  River 
section  of  Sonora,  this  with  three  companies  of  prospective 
settlers  from  the  Salt  River,  Gila  and  San  Pedro  Valleys, 
together  with  some  additions  from  Salt  Lake. 

In  January,  1885,  migration  was  under  personal  charge 
of  President  John  Taylor,  who,  after  a  notable  conference 
at  St.  David,  as  noted  in  the  history  of  that  section,  led  a 
party  southward  into  Sonora  and  held  a  satisfactory  con- 
ference with  Governor  Torres,  yet  made  no  settlement. 
In  the  same  month,  however,  notation  has  been  found 
that  Alexander  F.  Macdonald  was  at  Corralitos,  Chihua- 
hua, from  Mesa.  A  few  parties  were  in  that  locality  in 
February,  1885,  one  expedition  of  seventy  having  come 
from  Arizona,  under  Captain  Noble.  Something  of  a  set- 
back was  known  when,  on  April  9,  1885,  the  Governor  of 
Chihuahua  ordered  departure  of  all  Mormon  settlers 
within  his  State.  Apostles  Young  and  Thatcher,  May  18, 
visited  the  City  of  Mexico  and  secured  from  the  federal 
government  permission  for  the  immigrants  to  remain. 

Colonization  in  Chihuahua 

It  was  in  1886  that  the  main  Mormon  exodus  traveled 
across  the  border.  The  way  had  been  prepared  by  the 
organization  of  a  Colorado  corporation,  the  Mexican 
Colonization  &  Agricultural  Company,  this  under  the 
management  of  Anthony  W.  Ivins,  a  northern  Arizona 
pioneer.  This  company  had  been  granted  the  usual 
colonists'  privileges,  including  the  introduction,  without 
duty,  of  livestock,  agricultural  implements  and  household 
effects,  but  had  no  special  concessions.  It  was  given  the 
usual  exemption  from  taxation  for  ten  years.  Through 
this  company,  land  was  acquired  at  Colonia  Juarez  and 
Colonia  Diaz,  by  purchase  from  Ignacio  Gomez  del  Campo 

267 


and  others.  Payment  was  made  with  money  that  had  been 
donated  in  Utah  and  from  Church  funds. 

Colonies  were  established,  in  which  were  consolidated 
the  Mormons  already  south  of  the  line  and  the  newcomers. 
Diaz  was  on  the  Janos  River,  near  the  Mexican  town  of 
Ascension,  and  Colonia  Juarez  was  75  miles  upstream  on  a 
branch  of  the  Janos  river,  the  Piedras  Verdes.  At  the 
former  place  about  100,000  acres  were  acquired  and  at  the 
latter  25,000.  A  prior  settlement  at  Corralitos  had  been 
established  in  the  fall  of  1884.  Juarez  had  the  first  meeting- 
house, built  January  31,  1886,  but  the  town  had  to  be 
moved  two  miles,  in  January,  1887,  on  discovery  that  the 
site  was  outside  of  the  lands  that  had  been  purchased. 

Largely  from  data  secured  from  Mr.  Ivins  is  found 
much  of  detail  concerning  northern  Mexican  settlement. 
One  important  step  was  the  acquirement  in  1886,  of 
100,000  acres  of  Mexican  government  timber  land  in  the 
Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  near  Colonia  Juarez,  and  on  this 
tract  was  established  Colonia  Pacheco,  wherein  the  main 
industry  was  lumbering.  Then  two  other  mountain  tracts 
were  acquired,  of  6000  acres  each,  upon  which  were  estab- 
lished Colonia  Garcia  and  Colonia  Chuichupa,  sixteen 
miles  to  the  southwest  of  Colonia  Juarez.  In  1889  was 
established  Colonia  Dublan,  upon  a  60,000-acre  tract  that 
was  most  valuable  of  all,  considered  agriculturally.  Natural- 
ly this  became  the  strongest  of  all  the  settlements  of  the 
colonist  company. 

There  had  been  exploration,  however,  to  the  westward, 
in  the  State  of  Sonora,  and  in  1896,  a  tract  of  110,000  acres 
was  acquired  on  the  Babispe  River.  There  was  estab- 
lished Colonia  Oaxaca.  The  land  was  mainly  valuable  for 
grazing,  but  some  good  farming  land  was  along  the  river. 
Twenty-five  miles  below  Oaxaca,  three  years  later  was 
acquired  a  tract  of  25,000  acres,  whereon  Colonia  Morelos 
was  established,  to  be  the  center  of  an  agricultural  section, 
with  attached  grazing  land. 

268 


Prosperity  in  an  Alien  Land 

As  colonization  generally  was  directed  from  a  central 
agency,  each  of  the  colonies  had  somewhat  the  same  method 
of  establishment  and  of  operation,  this  founded  upon  the 
experience  of  the  people  in  Utah  and  Arizona.  There 
would  be  laid  out  a  townsite,  near  which  would  be  small 
tracts  of  garden  land,  and  farther  away  larger  tracts  of 
agricultural  and  grazing  land,  sold  to  the  colonists  at  cost 
with  ample  time  for  payment,  title  remaining  in  the  com- 
pany until  all  the  purchase  price  had  been  paid.  In  each 
colony  one  of  the  very  first  public  works  was  erection  of  a 
schoolhouse,  used  as  a  house  of  worship  and  for  public 
hall,  as  well.  Graduates  from  the  colony  grammar  schools 
could  be  sent  to  an  academy  at  Colonia  Juarez,  where 
four  years'  high  school  work  was  given.  Skilled  teachers 
were  secured  wherever  possible.  Instruction  was  free, 
both  to  the  children  of  the  colonists  and  to  the  Mexicans. 
Wherever  sufficient  school  maintenance  could  not  be  pro- 
vided, the  deficiency  was  made  up  by  the  Church. 

In  each  colony  the  rough  homes  of  adobe  or  rock  later 
were  replaced  by  houses  of  lumber  or  brick,  until,  it  is  told, 
these  Mexican  towns  were  among  the  best  built  known  in 
the  Southwest. 

Agriculture  was  notably  successful.  There  were  fine 
orchards,  vegetables  were  abundant  and  good  crops  of 
grain  and  potatoes  were  known.  The  best  breeds  of  cattle 
and  horses  were  imported  and  improved  agricultural 
machinery  was  brought  in.  Hundreds  of  miles  of  roads 
were  constructed  by  the  colonists,  turned  over  to  the 
government  without  cost,  and  taxation  was  cheerfully  paid 
on  the  same  basis  as  known  by  neighboring  Mexican  settle- 
ments. 

Wherever  water  could  be  developed  were  well-surveyed 
ditches,  heading  on  the  Casas  Grandes,  Janos  and  Babispe 
Rivers  and  their  tributaries,  though,  without  reservoirs, 
there  often  was  shortage  of  water.    Water  power  was  used 

269 


for  the  operation  of  grist  and  lumber  mills  and  even  for 
electric  lighting.  By  1912  there  were  five  lumber  and 
shingle  mills,  three  grist  mills,  three  tanneries,  a  shoe 
factory  and  other  manufacturing  industries  and  there  was 
added  a  telephone  system,  reaching  all  Chihuahua  colonies. 

In  general,  relations  with  the  Mexican  government  and 
with  the  neighboring  Mexicans  appear  to  have  been  cor- 
dial. Possibly  the  best  instance  of  this  lies  in  an  anecdote 
concerning  the  visit  to  the  Chihuahua  State  Fair  of  Presi- 
dent Porfirio  Diaz.  There  he  saw  a  remarkable  exhibit  of 
industry  and  frugality  presented  by  the  Mormon  colonies, 
including  saddles  and  harness,  fruit,  fresh  and  preserved, 
and  examples  of  the  work  of  the  schools.  Then  it  was  the 
General  fervently  exclaimed,  "What  could  I  not  do  with 
my  beloved  Mexico  if  I  only  had  more  citizens  and  settlers 
like  the  Mormons.'* 

The  colonists  took  no  part  in  the  politics  of  the  country. 
Only  a  few  became  Mexican  citizens.  Junius  S.  Romney 
stated  that  in  each  settlement  pride  was  taken  in  main- 
taining the  best  ideals  of  American  government.  Occa- 
sionally there  was  irritation,  mainly  founded  upon  the  dif- 
ference between  the  American  and  Mexican  judicial 
systems.  According  to  Ammon  M.  Tenney,  in  all  the  years 
of  Mormon  occupation,  not  a  single  colonist  was  convicted 
of  a  crime  of  any  sort  whatever.  In  1912  the  colonists 
numbered  4225. 

Abandonment  of  the  Mountain  Colonies 

At  the  break-up  of  the  Diaz  government.  May  25,  1911, 
fear  and  disorder  succeeded  peaceful  conditions  that  had 
been  known  in  the  mountain  settlements.  Sections  of 
Chihuahua  were  dominated  by  Villa,  Salazar,  Lopez, 
Gomez  and  other  revolutionary  leaders.  A  volume  might 
be  written  upon  the  experiences  of  the  colonists  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  mountains.  There  would  appear  to  have 
been  little  prejudice  against  them  and  little  actual  an- 
tagonism, but  they  had  amassed  a  wealth  that  was  needed 

270 


by  the  revolutionarj^  forces,  and  there  were  recurring  de- 
mands upon  them  for  horses,  wagons,  supplies,  ammunition 
and  finally  for  all  weapons.  Patience  and  diplomacy  were 
needed  in  the  largest  degree  in  the  conferences  with  the 
Mexican  military  leaders.  Soon  it  was  evident,  however, 
that  nothing  remained  but  flight  to  the  United  States. 
July  29,  1912,  most  of  the  settlers  were  hurried  aboard  a 
train,  almost  without  time  in  which  to  change  their  cloth- 
ing. The  stores  and  public  buildings  were  closed.  The 
colonists  were  huddled,  with  small  personal  property,  into 
boxcars  or  cattle  cars  and  hauled  from  Colonia  Dublan  to 
El  Paso.  There,  there  was  immediate  assistance  by  the  City 
of  El  Paso  and  the  United  States  government,  soon  re- 
inforced by  friends  and  relatives  in  Arizona  and  Utah. 
At  one  time  1500  Mormon  refugees  were  encamped  in  El 
Paso. 

A.  W.  Ivins  tells: 

As  soon  as  the  colonists  were  gone,  a  campaign  of  looting  and 
destruction  was  commenced  by  the  Mexican  revolutionists  and  local 
Mexicans  near  the  colonies.  The  stores  were  broken  into  and  looted 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  merchandise.  Private 
homes  were  treated  in  the  same  manner.  Livestock  was  appropriated, 
until  almost  every  available  thing  was  carried  away  or  destroyed. 
There  was  little  wanton  destruction  of  property  except  at  Colonia 
Diaz,  where  the  better  part  of  the  residences  and  public  buildings 
was  burned.     The  homes  and  farm  buildings  were  not  destroyed. 

Some  of  the  colonists  returned  as  soon  as  a  degree  of 
safety  was  assured,  to  check  up  the  property  remaining  and 
to  plan  for  the  eventual  return  of  their  people.  But  again 
there  had  to  be  an  exodus,  this  late  in  December,  1915. 
At  that  time  it  is  told  that  Villa  was  only  a  few  miles  away, 
preparing  to  march  upon  the  Mormon  settlements,  with 
all  orders  given  to  that  end.  But  in  the  morning  the  plans 
were  changed,  apparently  by  celestial  intervention,  and  he 
marched  his  men  in  another  direction,  into  the  Galiana 
Valley. 

On  one  of  the  flights,  after  all  but  the  most  vigorous 
of  the  men  had  departed,  there  came  peremptory  demand 

271 


for  surrender  of  all  arms  and  ammunition.  Some  guns  were 
surrendered,  but  the  best  had  been  deposited  at  a  moun- 
tain rendezvous.  To  that  point  the  men  hurried  and,  well- 
armed  and  well-mounted,  made  their  way  by  mountain 
trails  to  the  border,  avoiding  conflict  with  Mexican  bands 
that  sought  to  bar  the  way. 

Sad  Days  for  the  Sonora  Colonists 

In  1905  was  known  a  disastrous  flood,  which  at  Oaxaca 
swept  away  forty  brick  houses,  though  without  loss  of  hfe. 
At  Morelos  a  number  of  houses  were  swept  away  and  about 
1000  acres  of  choice  farming  land  was  rendered  worthless. 
Then  Morelos  and  Oaxaca  colonists  in  the  Batepito  Valley, 
nine  miles  north  of  Morelos,  founded  Colonia  San  Jose, 
with  new  canals,  in  addition  to  those  of  the  Babispe.  In 
1912,  Colonia  Morelos  had  in  granary  over  50,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  while  the  orchards,  gardens  and  alfalfa  fields  had 
produced  an  abundance.  These  Sonora  colonists  had  4000 
acres  of  cultivated  and  fenced  lands. 

A  flour  mill  was  operated,  succeeding  one  that  had  been 
destroyed  by  fire  of  incendiary  origin.  The  Morelos  canal 
had  cost  $12,000.  Many  local  industries  had  been  estab- 
lished, a  good  schoolhouse  was  in  each  settlement  and  no 
saloons  were  tolerated.  In  general,  there  was  good  treat- 
ment from  the  national  Mexican  government,  though 
"local  authorities  had  demands  called  very  oppressive  and 
overbearing." 

War  came  to  the  western  colonies  in  November,  1911, 
on  the  arrival  of  a  band  of  seventy  men  under  Isidro 
Escobosa,  repulsed  at  El  Tigre  and  fleeing  to  Morelos, 
followed  by  federal  cavalry,  who  are  reported  to  have  been 
at  least  as  destructive  as  the  bandits.  Thereafter  was  con- 
tinuous grief  for  the  colonists.  In  June,  1500  federals  were 
quartered  on  the  streets  and  in  the  school  buildings  at 
Morelos,  with  open  depredations  upon  the  settlers'  personal 
property,  and  scandalous  conditions  from  which  no  appeal 
was  effective.  There  then  was  demand  for  wagons  and  team- 

272 


sters  to  accompany  the  federals.  The  settlers  sent  their 
horses  into  secret  places  in  the  mountains  and  thus  saved 
most  of  them.  Much  the  same  conditions  were  known  at 
Oaxaca. 

When  it  became  evident  that  Mexican  conditions  were 
unendurable,  the  sick  and  the  older  people  were  sent  into 
the  United  States.  August  30,  1912,  following  news  that 
the  rebel  Salazar,  was  marching  into  Sonora,  a  large  num- 
ber of  women  and  children  were  sent  northward.  Sixty- 
wagons  constituted  the  expedition,  carrying  450  people. 
The  journey  was  through  a  rough  country,  in  which  there 
was  one  fatal  accident,  and  in  the  rainy  season,  with  atten- 
dant hardship.  At  Douglas  was  cordial  reception,  with 
assistance  by  the  United  States  and  by  citizens.  September 
3,  still  more  of  the  women  and  children  went  northward, 
leaving  about  25  men  in  the  colonies,  as  guards. 

Occasional  parties  kept  up  connection  between  the  bor- 
der and  the  colonies  for  some  time  thereafter.  A  few  of  the 
expeditions  were  captured  by  the  Mexicans  and  robbed. 

The  colonies  had  been  entirely  abandoned  for  some 
time  when  a  Mormon  party  from  Douglas  returned  on  a 
scouting  trip.     According  to  a  chronicler  of  the  period: 

On  arriving  at  the  colonies  they  found  that  every  house  had  been 
looted  and  everything  of  value  taken,  sewing  machines  and  furniture 
ruthlessly  smashed  up  and  lying  around  as  debris,  while  house  organs, 
which  were  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  Mormon  home,  were  heaps  of 
kindling  wood.  The  carcasses  of  dead  animals  lay  about  the  streets, 
doors  and  windows  were  smashed  in,  stores  gutted  and  the  contents 
strewn  everywhere  about,  while  here  and  there  a  cash  register  or 
some  other  modern  appliance  gave  evidence  of  the  hand  of  prejudice- 
destroying  ignorance. 

In  October,  Consul  Dye  of  Douglas  made  a  formal 
inspection. 

Some  of  the  colonists  returned  when  conditions  appar- 
ently had  bettered,  and  there  is  at  hand  a  record  of  what 
may  be  considered  to  have  been  the  final  abandonment. 
In  the  first  days  of  May,  1914,  at  Douglas,  92  Americans 

273 


from  the  three  Sonora  colonies,  arrived  in  21  wagons, 
being  the  last  of  the  colonists.  They  practically  had  been 
ordered  out,  after  having  been  notified  by  the  American 
Secretary  of  State  that  the  protection  of  their  country 
would  not  be  extended  to  them.  Most  of  their  property 
was  left  behind,  at  the  mercy  of  the  Mexican  authorities. 

Congressional  Inquiry 

In  September,  1912,  at  El  Paso,  was  an  investigation 
under  the  terms  of  a  Senate  resolution,  which  sought  to  find 
whether  the  Mexican  troubles  had  been  incited  by  American 
citizens  or  corporations.  Senator  Smith  of  Michigan  was 
chairman  of  the  committee.  At  the  hearings  there  was 
repeated  inquiry  apparently  seeking  to  demonstrate  that 
the  Standard  Oil  Company,  to  a  degree,  was  responsible 
for  the  Madera  revolution.  There  also  was  considerable 
inquiry,  apparently  hostile,  seeking  to  define  ulterior  rea- 
sons why  the  Mormons  should  have  chosen  Mexico  as  an 
abiding  place.  The  investigation  covered  all  parts  of 
Mexico  where  American  interests  had  suffered,  and  only 
incidentally  touched  the  Mormon  settlements.  There  was 
ample  evidence  to  the  effect  that  the  Mormons  retained 
their  American  citizenship  and  American  customs,  that 
they  had  lived  in  amity  with  the  former  stable  Mexican 
government,  that  any  troubles  they  may  have  had  were 
not  due  to  any  actions  of  their  own,  but  to  the  desire  fo 
loot  on  the  part  of  the  roaming  national  and  revolutionary 
soldiery  and  that  their  departure  was  forced  and  necessary. 
No  especial  definition  seems  to  have  been  given  to  the  exact 
amount  of  the  loss  suffered,  but  there  was  agreement  that 
the  damage  done  to  these  American  citizens  was  very  large. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution,  according  to  evidence 
presented,  guarantees  had  been  received  by  the  Mormons 
from  both  of  the  major  Mexican  factions,  but,  when  these 
guarantees  were  referred  to.  General  Salazar  sententiously 
observed,  "They  are  but  words.*' 

274 


Repopulation  of  the  Mexican  Colonies 

A  few  valiant  souls  returned  to  the  colonies  and  re- 
mained as  best  they  could,  forming  nuclei  for  others  who 
have  drifted  back  from  time  to  time,  though  neither  their 
going  nor  coming  was  under  direct  Church  instruction. 

Early  in  1920,  President  J.  C.  Bentley  of  the  Juarez 
Stake  told  of  the  revival  of  the  Mexican  missions,  and  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year,  A.  W.  Ivins,  returning 
from  the  Chihuahua  colonies,  told  that  779  colonists  were 
found,  approximately  one-fifth  of  the  total  number  of 
refugees.  To  a  degree  their  property  had  been  maintained 
and  their  orchards  kept  ahve  by  the  few  who  had  remained 
over  the  troublous  period.  The  academy  at  Colonia  Juarez 
had  been  running  some  time,  with  100  students.  He  told 
of  the  great  work  of  reconstruction  that  would  have  to  be 
done,  in  restoration  of  fences  and  homes,  and  expressed 
confidence  that  all  now  would  be  well  under  the  more  stable 
government  that  has  been  provided  in  the  southern  repub- 
Hc. 

There  was  restoration  of  order  in  Mexico  in  1920  and 
assumption  of  an  apparently  stable  pohtical  government 
under  President  Alvaro  Obregon,  a  Sonora  citizen,  with 
whom  is  associated  P.  EHas  Calles,  who  had  somewhat  to 
do  with  the  Morelos-Oaxaca  troubles.  Assurances  have 
been  given  that  protection  will  be  extended  to  all  immi- 
grants, the  Mormon  land  titles  have  been  accepted  and  a 
fresh  movement  southward  has  been  started  across  the 
border.  But  there  are  many,  possibly  a  half  of  those  who 
fled,  who  will  not  return.  They  have  established  them- 
selves, mainly  in  Arizona,  under  conditions  they  do  not 
care  to  leave.  So,  it  is  probable,  further  extension  south- 
ward of  the  Church  plans  of  agricultural  settlement  will  be 
a  task  that  will  lie  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  younger  gen- 
eration. 


275 


Chapter  Twenty-five 


Oases  Have  Grown  in  the  Desert 

The  Mormons  of  Arizona  today  are  not  to  be  considered 
in  the  same  manner  as  have  been  their  forebears.  The 
older  generation  came  in  pilgrimages,  wholly  within  the 
faith,  sent  to  break  the  wilderness  for  generations  to  come. 
These  pioneers  must  be  considered  in  connection  with  their 
faith,  for  through  that  faith  and  its  supporting  Church  were 
they  sent  on  their  southward  journeyings.  Thus  it  happens 
that  "Mormon  settlement"  was  something  apart  and  dis- 
tinctive in  the  general  development  of  Arizona  and  of  the 
other  southwestern  sections  into  which  Mormon  influ- 
ences were  taken.  It  has  not  been  sought  in  this  work 
even  to  infer  that  Mormons  in  anywise  had  loftier  aspira- 
tions than  were  possessed  by  any  other  pioneer  people  of 
religious  and  law-abiding  sort.  However,  there  must  be 
statement  that  the  Mormons  were  alone  in  their  idea  of 
extension  in  concrete  agricultural  communities.  Such 
communities  were  founded  on  well-developed  ideals,  that 
had  nothing  in  common  with  the  usual  frontier  spirit.  They 
contained  no  drinking  places  or  disorderly  resorts  and  in 
them  rarely  were  breaches  of  the  peace.  Without  argu- 
ment, this  could  have  been  accompUshed  by  any  other 
religious  organization.  Something  of  the  sort  has  been 
done  by  other  churches  elsewhere  in  America.  But  in  the 
Southwest  such  work  of  development  on  a  basis  of  religion 
was  done  only  by  the  Mormons. 

There  was  need  for  the  sustaining  power  of  Celestial 
Grace  upon  the  average  desert  homestead,  where  the 
fervent  sun  Hghted  an  expanse  of  dry  and  unpromising 

276 


land.  The  task  of  reclamation  in  the  earlier  days  would 
have  been  beyond  the  abiUty  and  resources  of  any  colonists 
not  welded  into  some  sort  of  mutual  organization.  This 
welding  had  been  accomplished  among  the  Mormons  even 
before  the  wagon  trains  started  southward.  Thereafter 
all  that  was  needed  was  industry,  as  directed  by  American 
intelligence. 

Prosperity  Has  Succeeded  Privation 

Today  the  Mormon  population  of  Arizona  does  not 
exceed  25,000,  within  a  total  population  of  over  300,000. 
The  relative  percentage  of  strength,  however,  is  larger  than 
the  figures  indicate,  this  due,  somewhat,  to  the  fact  that 
the  trend  of  Mormon  progress  still  is  by  way  of  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  Of  a  verity,  a  family  head  upon  a  farm, 
productive  and  independent,  is  of  larger  value  to  the  com- 
munity and  of  more  importance  therein  than  is  the  average 
city  dweller. 

The  immigrant  from  Utah  who  came  between  1876  and 
1886  no  longer  has  the  old  ox-bowed  wagon.  His  travel 
nowadays  is  by  automobile.  His  log  or  adobe  hut  has  been 
replaced  by  a  handsome  modern  home.  His  children  have 
had  education  and  have  been  reared  in  comfort  that  never 
knew  lack  of  food.  Most  of  the  Mormon  settlements  no 
longer  are  exclusively  Mormon.  There  has  come  a  time 
when  immigration,  by  rail,  has  surrounded  and  enveloped 
the  foundations  established  by  the  pioneers. 

To  the  newer  generation  this  work  is  addressed  es- 
pecially, though  its  dedication,  of  right,  is  to  the  men  and 
women  who  broke  the  trails  and  whose  vision  of  the  future 
has  been  proven  true.  Many  of  the  pioneers  remain  and 
share  with  their  children  in  the  benefits  of  the  civiHzation 
that  here  they  helped  to  plant.  The  desert  wilderness  has 
been  broken  and  in  its  stead  oases  are  expanding,  oases 
filled  with  a  population  proud  of  its  Americanism,  pros- 
perous through  varied  industry  and  blessed  with  con- 
sideration for  the  rights  of  the  neighbor. 

277 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Bancroft,  Hubert  Howe, 


Bartlett,  John  R., 
Beadle,  S.  H., 

Church  Chronology, 
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Cooke,  Col.  P.  St.  George, 

Dellenbaugh,  F.  S., 


Donaldson,  Thomas, 

Englehardt,  Rev.  Zephyrin, 

Farish,  Thos.  E., 

Fish,  Joseph, 
Gregory,  Herbert, 
Hamblin,  Jacob, 

Hinton,  R.  J., 

Hodge,  F.  W., 

James,  Dr.  Geo.  Wharton, 

Jenson,  Andrew, 

Jones,  D.  W., 

Layton,  Christopher, 

McClintock,  Jas.  H., 


History  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  His- 
tory of  Nevada,  History  of  California: 
San  Francisco,  1889. 

Personal  Narrative:  Appleton,  1854. 

Western  Wilds:  Jones  Bros.,  Cincinnati, 
1878. 

Deseret  News,  Salt  Lake. 

Mss.  data  of  Arizona  Stakes  and  Wards. 

Conquest  of  New  Mexico  and  California: 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1878. 

Breaking  the  Wilderness:  Putnam's  Sons, 
1908.  The  Romance  of  the  Colorado 
River:  1909.  A  Canyon  Voyage,  New- 
York,  1908. 

Moqui  Pueblo  Indians:  Census  Bureau, 
1893. 

Missions  of  California:  4  vols.,  Barry  Co., 
San  Francisco,  1905-15. 

History  of  Arizona:  8  vols.,  Filmer  Co., 
San  Francisco,  1915-18. 

Mss.  History  of  Arizona. 

The  Navajo  Country:  Interior  Dept.,  1916. 

Personal  Narrative,  by  Little:  Deseret 
News,  1909. 

Handbook  to  Arizona:  Payot-Upham,  San 
Francisco,  1878. 

Handbook  of  the  American  Indians:  Bu- 
reau of  American  Ethnology. 

In  and  Around  the  Grand  Canyon:  Little- 
Brown  Co.,  Boston,  1900. 

Biographical  Encyclopedia:  3  vols.  Des- 
eret News,  1900,  1910,  1920. 

Fortv  Years  Among  the  Indians :  Salt  Lake, 
1890. 

Autobiography  (Mrs.  Selina  L.  Phillips, 
John  Q.  Cannon) :  Deseret  News,  1911. 

History  of  Arizona:  2  vols.,  Clarke  Co., 
Chicago,  1916. 


279 


Munk,  Dr.  J.  A.,  Amona  Sketches:  Grafton  Press,  N.  Y., 

1905. 
Powell,  J.  W.,  Canyons  of  the  Colorado:  Flood- Vincent, 

Meadville,  Penn.,  1895. 
Roberts,  B.  H.,  History  of  the  Mormon  Church:  Salt  Lake. 

Standage,  Henry,  Mss.  Story  of  Mormon  Battalion. 

Twitchell,  Ralph  W.,  Leading  Facts  of  New  Mexican  History : 

Torch  Press,  Cedar  Rapids,  la.,  1911. 
Tyler,  Daniel,  Mormon  Battalion:  Salt  Lake,  1881. 

Whitney,  Orson  F.,  History  of  Utah:  3  vols.,  Geo.  Q.  Cannon 

Co.,  Salt  Lake,  1892. 


280 


MORMON  SETTLEMENT  PLACE 
NAMES 


(Capital  letters  indicate  present  settlement  names) 
See  map  of  Arizona,  page  309 

ADAIR,  Fools  Hollow— 23^  m.  w.  of  Showlow 

ALGODON,  Lebanon— 7  m.  se.  of  Thatcher 

ALMA,  Stringtown — about  1  m.  w.  of  Mesa 

Allen  City,  Allen  Camp,    Cumorah,    ST.    JOSEPH— Little^ Colorado 

settlement 
ALPINE,  Frisco,  Bush  Valley— 60  m.  se.  of  St.  Johns 
Apache  Springs — at  Forest  Dale 
Apache  Springs — sw.  of  Pinetop,  Cooley's  last  ranch 
Amity  and  Omer,  Union,  EAGAR — upper  Round  Valley 
Arivaipa  Canyon — western  route  Gila  Valley  to  San  Pedro 
ARTESIA— in  Gila  Valley,  about  18  m.  se.  of  Thatcher 
ASHURST,  Redlands,  Cork— about  15  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

Badger  Creek — on  Mormon  wagon  road  10  m.  w.  of  Lee's  Ferry 

Bagley,  Walker,  TAYLOR— 3  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 

BaUenger,  Brigham  City — was  Little  Colorado  town 

Beaver  Dams,  LITTLEFIELD,  Millersburg— nw.  corner  of  State 

Beaver   Ranch,    Woolf  Ranch,    Lone   Pine   Crossing,   Reidhead — 12 

m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
Berardo,  Horsehead  Crossing,  HOLBROOK — on  Little  Colorado 
Binghampton — 6  m.  n.  of  Tucson,  near  Ft.  Lowell 
Bisbee — in  se.  Arizona,  near  Mexican  border 
Bitter  Springs — on  Mormon  road,  18  m.  s.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
Black  Falls — on  Little  Colorado,  56  m.  s.  of  Moen  Copie 
BLUEWATER — in  New  Mexico  on  rr.  107  m.  w.  of  Albuquerque 
Bonelli's,  STONE'S  FERRY— near  mouth  of  Virgin  r. 
Brigham  City,  Ballenger — was  Little  Colorado  r.  settlement 
Buckskin  Mountains — between  Kanab  and  Colorado  r. 
BUNKER VILLE— Muddy  settlement,  45  m.  sw.  of  St.  George 
Burke  Tanks — On  road  Pleasant  Valley  to  Grand  Falls 
BRYCE— in  Gila  Valley,  2  m.  n.  of  Pima 
Bush  Valley,  Frisco,  ALPINE— 60  m.  se.  of  St.  Johns 

CALL  VILLE,  Call's  Landing — 16  m.  w.  of  mouth  of  Virgin  r. 
CEDAR  RIDGE— on  Mormon  road,  33  m.  s.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
Cedar  Rid^e — 10  m.  ne.  of  Pleasant  Valley 

Cedar  Springs — Barney  &  Norton  Double  "N"  ranch,  30  m.  sw.  of 
Thatcher 


281 


CENTRAL— 3  m.  w.  of  Thatcher,  in  Gila  Valley 

CHANDLER— 8  m.  s.  of  Mesa 

Clark's  Ranch — Just  off  Ft.  Apache  road,  near  Showlow 

Clay  Springs — Snowflake  Stake 

Cluff's  Cienega — 6  m.  e.  of  Pi^etop,  embraces  new  town  of  Cooley 

COLTER— 17  m.  se.  of  Springerville 

Columbine — near  top  of  Mt.  Graham,  Graham  Co. 

COOLEY — at  lumber  camp  near  Pinetop,  rr.  terminus 

Cooley's  ranch — At  Showlow — C.  E.  Cooley's  first  ranch 

Cooley's  ranch — where  C.  E.  Cooley  died,  sw.  of  Pinetop 

Cumorah  Allen's  Camp,  ST.  JOSEPH — Little  Colorado  settlement 

CONCHO,  Erastus — about  half  way  between  Snowflake  and  St.  Johns 

Cork,  Redlands,  ASHURST— 15  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

Crossing  of  the  Fathers,  Vado  de  los  Padres,  El  Vado,  Ute  Crossing, 

Ute  Ford — Colorado  river  crossing  just  n.  of  Utah  line 
Curtis,  EDEN — about  15  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher,  in  Gila  Valley 

DOUGLAS — near  Mexican  border,  se.  Arizona 

EAGAR,  Round  Valley — 2  m.  s.  of  Springerville 

Eagle  Valley — upper  end  of  Muddy  Valley 

Eastern  Arizona  Stake — 1878.     Included  wards  e.   of  Holbrook  in 

ne.  Arizona 
East  Pinedale,  PINEDALE— 15  m.  sw.  of  Snowflake 
East  Verde — Mazatzal  City — was  near  Payson,  in  n.  Tonto  Basin 
EDEN,  Curtis— about  15  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher  in  Gila  Valley 
Ellsworth — was  1^  m.  s.  of  Showlow 
Emery — w.  of  Fort  Thomas  in  Gila  Valley 
Enterprise — was  near  San  Jose,  15  m.  e.  of  Thatcher 
Erastus,  CONCHO — about  half  way  between  Snowflake  and  St.  Johns 
Eureka  Springs — in  Arivaipa  Valley  about  25  m.  sw.  of  Thatcher 

Fairview,  LAKESIDE,  Woodland— about  30  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
Fairview,  Matthews,  GLENBAR— 10  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher  in  Gila 

Valley 
Fools  Hollow,  ADAIR — in  ravine  2)^  m.  w.  of  Showlow 
Forest  Dale — 8  m.  sw.  of  Showlow 

FORT  DEFIANCE— near  N.  M.  line  30  m.  n.  of  Santa  Fe  rr. 
Fort  Milligan — was  1  m.  w.  of  present  Eagar 

Fort  Moroni,  Fort  Rickerson — 7  m.  nw.  of  Flagstaff  in  LeRoux  Flat 
Fort  Thomas— in  Gila  Valley,  22  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 
Fort  Utah,  Utahville,  Jonesville,  LEHI — 3  m.  ne.  of  Mesa 
FRANKLIN— near  N.  M.  line  50  m.  e.  of  Thatcher 
FREDONIA,  Hardscrabble- 3  m.  s.  of  Utah  line,  8  m.  s.  of  Kanab 
Frisco,  ALPINE,  Bush  Valley — near  N.  M.  line  60  m.  se.  of  St.  Johns 

Gila  Valley — in  Graham  Co.,  in  se.  Arizona 

GILBERT— 6  m.  se.  of  Mesa 

GLENBAR,  Fairview,  Matthews— 10  m.  w.  of  Thatcher  in  GUa  Valley 

GLOBE— 80  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

GRAHAM — across  the  Gila  river  n.  of  Thatcher 

Grand  Falls — on  Little  Colorado,  5  m.  below  ford  and  47  m.  below 

Winslow 
Grand  Wash — leads  s.  of  St.  George  into  Colorado  r. 
Grant,  Heber,  LUNA — across  N.  M.  line,  40  m.  se.  of  Springerville 
GREER— 15  m.  sw.  of  Eagar 

282 


HARDYVILLE— landing  on  Colorado,  about  90  m.  s.  of  Callville 
Hayden,  Zenos,  Mesaville,  MESA — Headquarters  of  Maricopa  Stake, 

16  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 
HAYDEN— 35  m.  s.  of  Globe 

Hayden's  Ferry,  San  Pablo,  TEMPE— 9  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 
Heber,  Grant,  LUNA — across  N.  M.  line,  40  m.  se.  of  Springerville 
HEBER— near  Wilford,  50  m.  sw.  of  Holbrook 
HEREFORD— on  San  Pedro,  33  m.  s.  of  St.  David 
HOLBROOK,  Horsehead  Crossing,  Berardo — on  Little  Colorado 
Horsehead  Crossing,  Berardo,  HOLBROOK — on  Little  Colorado 
House  Rock  Springs — on  Mormon  road,  38  m.  sw.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
HUBBARD— 6  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 
HUNT— on  Little  Colorado,  17  m.  nw.  of  St.  Johns 

Jacob's  Pools — on  Mormon  road,  27  m.  sw.  of  Lee's  Ferry 

JOHNSON'S — on  Mormon  road,  14  m.  ne.  of  Kanab,  n.  of  Utah  line 

Johnsonville,  Nephi — was  successor  of  Tempe  ward,  3  m.  w.  of  Mesa 

JonesviUe,  Utahville,  Ft.  Utah,  LEHI — 3  m.  ne.  of  Mesa 

Joppa — in  Snowflake  Stake 

Junction  (City),  RIOVILLE — at  junction  of  Muddy  r.  with  Virgin  r. 

Juniper,  LINDEN — 8  m.  w.  of  Showlow 

KANAB — just  n.  of  Utah  line,  about  65  m.  e.  of  St.  George 

LAKESIDE,  Fairview,  Woodland— ward  30  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 

LA  VEEN— on  Salt  River,  12  m.  sw.  of  Phoenix 

LAYTON— 3  m.  e.  of  Thatcher 

Lebanon,  ALGODON — in  cotton  district,  7  m.  se.  of  Thatcher 

Lee  Valley — 15  m.  sw.  of  Eagar 

LEE'S  FERRY,  Lonely  Dell— on  Colorado  r.,  18  m.  s.  of  Utah  line 

LEHI,  JonesviUe,  Utahville,  Ft.  Utah — ward  3  m.  ne.  of  Mesa 

LeRoux  Springs  and  Flat — about  7  m.  nw.  of  Flagstaff,  location  of 

Ft.  Moroni 
Limestone  Tanks — on  Mormon  road,  27  m.  s.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
LINDEN,  Juniper — ^8  m.  w.  of  Showlow 
Little  Colorado  Stake — first  Arizona  Stake,  embraced  Little  Colorado 

LITTLEFIELD,  Beaver  Dams,  Millersburg— on  Virgin  r.,  3  m.  e. 
of  Nevada  line 

LOGAN,  West  Point— s.  of  Muddy  r.,  15  m.  w.  of  St.  Joseph 

Lonely  Dell,  LEE'S  FERRY— crossing  on  Colorado  r.,  18  m.  s.  of 
Utah  line 

Lone  Pine,  Beaver  ranch,  Woolf  ranch,  Reidhead — 12  m.  s.  of  Snow- 
flake 

LUNA  (Valley),  Grant,  Heber — across  N.  M.  line,  40  m.  se.  of  Springer- 
ville 

Macdonald — on  San  Pedro,  5  m.  s.  of  St.  David 

MARICOPA  STAKE— Headquarters  at  Mesa 

Matthews,  Fairview,  GLENBAR— 10  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher  in  Gila 

VaUey 
Mazatzal  City — in  Tonto  Basin,  on  East  Verde  r. 
McClellan  Tanks — on  Mormon  road,  about  35  m.  s.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
Meadows — on  Little  Colorado  r.,  8  m.  nw.  of  St.  Johns 
MESA,  Hayden,  Zenos,  Mesaville — Maricopa  Stake   Headquarters, 

16  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 

283 


MESQUITE — on  n.  side  of  Virgin  r.,  1  m.  w.  of  Nevada  line 

MIAMI— 6  m.  w.  of  Globe,  86  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

Milligan  Fort — was  1  m.  w.  of  present  Eagar 

MiUersburg,  Beaver  Dams,  LITTLEFIELD — on  Virgin  r.,  nw.  corner 

of  Arizona 
Millville — was  on  Mogollon  plateau,  35  m.  s.  of  Flagstaff 
Mill  Point — 6  m.  nw.  of  St.  Thomas  on  Muddy  r. 
Miramonte — 9  m.  w.  of  Benson 
Moaby,  Moa  Ave,  Moen  Abi,  Moanabby — 7  m.  sw.  of  Tuba,  60  m. 

MOCCASIN  SPRINGS— 3  m.  n.  of  Pipe  Springs 

MOEN  COPIE — was  mission  headquarters,  2  m.  s.  of  Tuba 

Mohave  Spring — in  Moen  Copie  wash,  s.  of  Tuba 

Mormon  Dairy — near  Mormon  Lake,  belonged  to  Sunset  and  Brigham 

City 
Mormon  Lake — about  28  m.  se.  of  Flagstaff,  50  m.  w.  of  Sunset 
Mormon  Road — west  extension  of  Spanish  Trail,  St.  George  to  Los 

Angeles 
Mormon  Road — wagon  road  from  Lee's  Ferry  to  Little  Colorado  r. 
Mormon  Range — at  head  of  Muddy  Valley,  now  se.  Nevada 
Mormon  Flat — on  Apache  Trail,  Phoenix  to  Globe,  20  m.  ne.  of  Mesa 
Mormon  Fort — n.  of  Las  Vegas,  in  Nevada 

Mortensen,  Percheron,  East  Pinedale — Just  e.  of  Pinedale  settlement 
Mt.  Carmel,  Winsor — United  Order  ward  in  Long  Valley  n.  of  Kanab, 

Utah 
Mt.  Trumbull — in  Uinkarat  Mnts.,  30  m.  w.  of  mouth  of  Kanab  Wash 
Mt.  Tumbull— 37  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

Muddy,  river  and  valley,  in  present  Nevada,  near  nw.  comer  of  Arizona 
Musha  Springs — just  s.  of  Tuba,  townsite  of  Tuba  City,  n.  of  Moen 

Copie 

Navajo,  Savoia,  RAMAH — in  N.  M.,  22  m.  n.  of  Zuni,  80  m.  ne.  of 

St.  Johns 
Navajo  Spring — on  Mormon  road,  8  m.  s.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
Navajo  Wells — 16  m.  e.  of  Kanab,  in  Utah,  foot  of  Buckskin  mts. 
Nephi,  JohnsonvUle — was  successor  of  Tempe  ward,  3  m.  w.  of  Mesa 
NUTRIOSO— 17  m.  se.  of  Springerville 

Obed — was  on  Little  Colorado  r.,  3  m.  sw.,  across  river,  from  St.  Joseph 
Omer  and  Amity,  Union,  EAGAR — in  lower  Round  Valley,  Apache  Co. 
OVERTON,  Patterson's  Ranch— 8  m.  nw.  of  St.  Thomas,  Nevada 
ORAIBI — Indian  village,  about  40  m.  se.  of  Moen  Copie 
Orderville — was  United  Order  ward  in  Long  Valley,  n.  of  Kanab,  in 
Utah 

PAPAGO — Indian  ward  on  both  sides  of  Salt  r.,  just  nw.  of  Mesa. 
Paria  River — enters  Colorado  r.  from  n.,  just  above  Lee's  Ferry 
Patterson's  Ranch,  OVERTON— 8  m.  nw.  of  St.  Thomas,  Nevada 
PAYSON — in  upper  Tonto  Basin,  75  m.  w.  of  Showlow 
Peach  Springs — 10  m.  ne.  of  station  of  same  name  on  Santa  Fe,  58 

m.  w.  of  Ash  Fork 
Pearce's  Ferry — Colorado  r.  crossing  at  mouth  of  Grand  Wash 
Penrod,  PINETOP— 12  m.  se.  of  Showlow 
Percheron,  Mortensen,  PINEDALE — 15^  m.  w.  of  Showlow 
PHOENIX— Capital  of  Arizona,  in  Salt  River  Valley 

284 


PIMA,  Smithville— in  Gila  Valley,  6  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 

PINE — on  Pine  Creek,  Tonto  Basin,  70  m.  w.  of  n.  of  Roosevelt  dam 

PINEDALE,  Percheron,  Mortensen — 153^  m.  w.  of  Showlow 

Pine  Springs — near  Pine  Creek  in  Tonto  Basin 

PINETOP,  Penrod— 12  m.  se.  of  Showlow 

PIPE  SPRINGS,   Winsor  Castle— on  Mormon  road,  20  m.  sw.  of 

Kanab 
PLEASANTON— in  Williams  Valley,  N.  M.,  36  m.  s.  of  Luna  Valley 
PLEASANT  VALLEY— location  of  sawmill  and  dairy,  25  m.  se.  of 

Flagstaff 
POMERENE — 4  m.  n.  and  e.  of  Benson 

RAMAH,  Navajo,  Savoia — in  N.  M.,  80  m.  ne.  of  St.  Johns 
RAY— 25  m.  sw.  of  Globe 

Redlands,  ASHURST,  Cork— about  15  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher 
REIDHEAD,  Beaver  Ranch,  Woolf  Crossing,  Lone  Pine  Crossing — 

10  m.  s.  of  Taylor 
RICHVILLE,  Walnut  Grove,  18  m.  s.  of  St.  Johns 
RIOVILLE,  Junction  (City) — junction  of  Muddy  r.  with  Virgin  r. 
Round  Valley,  E AGAR— 35  m.  s.  of  St.  Johns 

ST.  JOHNS,  Salem— St.  Johns  Stake  hdqrs.,  60  m.  se.  of  Holbrook 
ST.  JOHNS  STAKE — Embraces  eastern  Arizona,  n.  of  Graham  Co. 
ST.  DAVID — on  San  Pedro  r.,  7  m.  se.  of  Benson  in  se.  Arizona 
ST.  JOSEPH— 5  m.  n.  of  Overton,  n.  side  of  Muddy  r.,  now  in  Nevada 
ST.  JOSEPH,  Allen  Camp,  Cumorah— on  Little  Colorado  r.,  10  m. 

w.  of  Holbrook 
ST.  JOSEPH  STAKE— embraces  se.  Arizona,  hdqrs.  at  Thatcher 
ST.  THOMAS— w.  side  of  Muddy,  1^  m.  above  junction  with  Virginr. 
SAFFORD— 3  m.  e.  of  Thatcher 

Salem,  ST.  JOHNS— St.  Johns  Stake  hdqrs.,  60  m.  se.  of  Holbrook 
Salt  Lake — 33  m.  e.  of  St.  Johns;  Is  in  New  Mexico 
Salt  Mountains — Salt  deposits  on  Virgin  r.,  below  St.  Thomas 
San  Francisco  Mountains — n.  of  Flagstaff 
SAN  BERNARDINO,  Cal.— about  50  m.  e.  of  Los  Angeles 
San  Bernardino  Ranch — in  extreme  se.  corner  of  Arizona 
San  Pablo,  Hayden's  Ferry,  TEMPE— 9  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 
San  Pedro — river  and  valley  in  se.  Arizona 

Savoia.  Navajo,  RAMAH— Savoia  was  6  m.  e.  of  present  Ramah 
SHOWLOW— 22  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
SHUMWAY— ward  on  Silver  creek,  7  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
Simonsville — was  mill  location,  6  m.  nw.  of  St.  Thomas 
Smithville,  PIMA— 6  m.  nw.  of  Thatcher,  once  St.  Joseph  Stake  hdqrs. 
SNOWFLAKE— Snowflake  Stake  hdqrs.,  30  m.  s.  of  Holbrook 
SNOWFLAKE  STAKE— embraces  practically  Navajo  County 
Soap  Creek  (Springs) — on  Mormon  road,  16  m.  sw.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
SOLOMONVILLE— €.  end  of  Gila  Valley 
SPRINGER VILLE— 35  m.  se.  of  St.  Johns 

Stinson  Valley — former  name  of  valley  in  which  Snowflake  is  located 
STONE'S  FERRY,  Bonelli's— Colorado  r.  crossing,  w.  of  mouth  of 

Virgin  r. 
Strawberry  Valley — in  n.  Tonto  Basin 
Sulphur  Springs  Valley — in  se.  Arizona 
Sunset,  Sunset  Crossing — Little  Colorado   r.  settlement,  25  m.  w.  of 

St.  Joseph 

285 


Sunset  Sawmill — was  7  m.  s.  of  Mormon  Dairy 

Surprise  Valley — 10  m.  nw.  of  Hunt,  along  Surprise  Creek,  27  m.  nw. 

of  St.  Johns 
Surprise  Valley — near  mouth  of  Kanab  Canyon 

Taylor — was  settlement  across  Colorado  r.,  3  m.  w.  of  St.  Joseph 
TAYLOR,  Bagley,  Walker— on  Silver  Creek,  3  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
TEMPE,  San  Pablo,  Hayden's  Ferry— 9  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 
Tenney's  Camp,  WOODRUFF— on  Little  Colorado  r.,  12  m.  ne.  of 

Holbrook 
THATCHER— St.  Joseph  Stake  hdqrs.,  in  Gila  Valley 
Tonto  Basin — in  central  Arizona 

TUBA  (CITY)— on  Mormon  road,  60  m.  se.  of  Lee's  Ferry 
TUBAC— on  Santa  Cruz  r.,  42  m.  s.  of  Tucson 
Turkey  Tanks — about  10  m.  ne.  of  Flagstafif 

Union,  Omer,  Amity,  EAGAR — ward  embraced  Round  Valley  settle- 
ments 
Utahville,  Fort  Utah,  LEHI,  Jonesville — 3  m.  ne.  of  Mesa 
Ute  Ford,  Vado  de  los  Padres,  CROSSING  OF  THE  FATHERS— 
on  Colorado  r.,  just  n.  of  Arizona  line 

Vermilion  Cliffs — w.  of  Colorado  r.,  extending  into  both  Arizona  and 

Utah 
VERNON — ward  includes  Concho  and  Hunt  branches 
VIRDEN — just  over  New  Mexico  line  on  Gila  r.,  8  m.  ne.  of  Franklin 

Walker,  Bagley,  TAYLOR— on  Silver  Creek,  3  m.  s.  of  Snowflake 
Walnut  Grove,  RICHVILLE— 18  m.  s.  of  St.  Johns  on  Little  Col- 
orado r. 
West  Point,  LOGAN — s.  of  Muddy  r.,  15  m.  w.  of  St.  Joseph,  Nevada 
Whitewater — 22  m.  e.  of  Tombstone. 
Wilford — 6  m.  sw.  of  Heber,  56  m.  sw.  of  Holbrook 
Williams  Valley — in  New  Mexico,  36  m.  s.  of  Luna  Valley 
Willow  Springs — on  Mormon  road,  7  m.  nw.  of  Tuba 
Winsor,  Mt.  Carmel — was  United  Order  ward  in  Long  Valley  n.  of 

Kanab 
Winsor  Castle,  PIPE  SPRINGS— on  Mormon  road,  20  m.  sw.  of 

Kanab 
WOODRUFF,  Tenney's  Camp— ward  on  Little  Colorado  r.,  12  m. 

se.  of  Holbrook 
Woolf  Crossing,  ranch,  Beaver  ranch.  Lone  Pine,  Reidhead — 10  m. 

s.  of  Taylor 
Woodland,  Fairview,  LAKESIDE— 3  m.  nw.  of  Pinetop 

Zenos,  Hayden,  Mesaville,  MESA — 16  m.  e.  of  Phoenix 


286 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  LEADING 
EVENTS 


1846 — Feb.  4,  Chas.  Shumway  first  to  cross  Mississippi  in  exodus 
from  Nauvoo;  Feb.  4,  "Brooklyn"  sailed  from  New  York,  with 
235  L.  D.  S.;  July  29,  arr.  San  Francisco;  July  20,  Mormon 
Battalion  left  Council  Bluffs;  Aug.  1,  arr.  Ft.  Leavenworth; 
12,  left  Leavenworth;  23,  Col.  Allen  died;  Oct.  9,  1st  detach- 
ment at  Santa  Fe;  13,  Cooke  in  command;  Sept.  16,  families 
sent  to  Pueblo;  Oct.  19,  left  Sant  Fe;  Nov.  21,  turned  to  west; 

28,  at  summit  Rockies;  Dec.  18,  at  Tucson;     22,  arr.  Pima 
villages. 

1847 — Jan.  8,  Battalion  at  mouth  of  Gila;  10,  crossed  Colorado  r.; 

29,  arr.  near  San  Diego;  July  16,  discharged;  24,  Pres.  Young 
and  Utah  pioneers  reached  Salt  Lake  Valley. 

1848 — Jan.  24,  gold  discovered  at  Sutter's  Fort,  Cal. 

1851 — June,  Lyman  and  Rich  and  about  500  from  Utah  located  San 
Bernardino,  Cal.;  fall.  Mormons  located  at  Tubac. 

1853 — First  missionaries  in  Las  Vegas  district. 

1855 — May  10,  30  missionaries  left  Salt  Lake  for  Las  Vegas. 

1857 — Ira  Hatch  and  Dudley  Leavitt  among  Paiutes;  Hamblin  sees 
Ives  steamer  "Explorer;"  Sept.  11,  Mountain  Meadows  mas- 
sacre. 

1858 — Jan.,  Ira  Hatch  sent  to  Muddy;  Feb.,  Col.  Kane  treaty  with 
Paiutes;  San  Bernardino  vacated;  spring,  Hamblin  to  Colorado 
r.;  first  trip  across  Colorado  r. 

1859— Oct.,  Hamblin  to  Hopi. 

1860— Oct.,  Hambhn  to  Hopi;  Nov.  2,  Geo.  A.  Smith,  Jr.,  killed  by 
Indians  near  Tuba. 

1862— Nov.,  Hamblin  to  Hopi. 

1863 — Feb.  24,  Arizona  Territory  organized  from  New  Mexico;  Mar. 
18,  Hamblin  to  Hopi;  Pipe  Springs  located  by  Dr.  J.  M. 
Whitmore. 

1864 — Mar.,  Hamblin  party  parleys  with  Navajos;  Moccasin  Springs 
settled;  United  Order  estabUshed  in  Brigham  City,  Utah,  by 
Lorenzo  Snow;  Oct.,  Anson  Call  directed  to  establish  Colo- 
rado r.  port,  Beaver  Dams  settled  by  Henry  W.  Miller;  Dec. 
2,  Call  party  at  site  of  Call's  landing;  18,  work  begun  at 
Call's  Landing. 

1865 — Jan.  8,  first  settlers  at  St.  Thomas  on  Muddy  r.,  settlement 
of  St.  Joseph  on  Muddy  r.;  settlement  on  Paria  Creek;  Dec, 
Muddy  section  organized  as  Pah-ute  County,   Arizona. 

287 


1866 — Jan.  8,  Whitmore  and  Mclntire  killed  by  Indians  near  Pipe 
Springs  j  June  4,  conference  with  Indians  on  Muddy  r.; 
Moccasin  vacated  through  Indian  troubles;  Nov.,  steamer 
"Esmeralda"  on  upper  Colorado  r. 

1867 — Jan.  18,  Pah-ute  county  claimed  by  Nevada;  spring,  floods 
caused  abandonment  of  Beaver  Dams;  Oct.  1,  county  seat  of 
Pah-ute   moved  from   Callville   to   St.   Thomas. 

1868 — Feb.  10,  trouble  with  Paiutes  on  Muddy  r. ;  August  18,  destruc- 
tive fire  at  St.  Joseph;  Nov.  1,  Andrew  S.  Gibbons  and  O.  D. 
— Gass  started  from  Callville  to  Ft.  Yuma  by  boat. 

1869— Feb.  8,  Junction  City  (Rioville)  established;  Feb.  15,  Utah 
organized  Rio  Virgen  County,  including  Muddy  settlements; 
May  29,  Powell  started  first  trip  down  Canyon;  June  12,  David- 
son family  died  of  thirst  on  desert  near  Muddy  r.;  June  16, 
Callville  abandoned;  August,  3  of  Powell's  men  killed  by 
Indians;  29,  Powell  ended  trip  below  Canyon;  Oct.,  Hamblin 
at  Hopi. 

1870 — Mar.,  Brigham  Young  party  visited  Muddy  settlements;  June 
14,  settlement  on  Kanab  Creek;  Sept.,  Hamblin  to  Mt.  Trum- 
bull with  J.  W.  Powell;  Nov.  5,  Hamblin  peace  talk  with 
Navajos  at  Ft.  Defiance;  took  Chief  Tuba  to  Utah;  Dec,  de- 
termination to  abandon  Muddy  settlements 

1871 — Spring,  abandonment  Muddy  district;  Pah-ute  County  abol- 
ished by  Arizona  Territory;  Aug.,  Hamblin,  with  Powell,  on 
second  Colorado  r.  trip;  Moccasin  Springs  re-settled;  Moen 
Copie  made  mission  post; 

1872— John  D.  Lee  located  at  mouth  of  Paria;  June  28,  J.  H.  Beadle 
at  Lee's  Ferry. 

1873 — Mar.  8,  Brigham  Young  instructed  Arizona  colonists  in  Salt 
Lake;  spring,  L.  W.  Roundy  and  Hamblin  at  Moen  Copie; 
May  1,  H.  D.  Haight  party  left  Utah  for  Little  Colorado 
Valley;  May  22,  Haight  party  on  Little  Colorado  r.;  June  30, 
Haight  party  turned  back. 

1874 — Jan.,  Hamblin  to  Hopi  to  prevent  war;  Aug.,  Hamblin  to  Ft. 
Defiance  on  peace  mission. 

1875— Feb.  20,  Orderville  established;  Sept.  16,  D.  W.  Jones  explora- 
tion party  left  Salt  Lake;  Oct.  27,  Jones  party  crossed  Colo- 
rado r.;  30,  Jas.  S.  Brown  exploring  party  left  Salt  Lake;  Dec. 
4,  Brown  party  at  Moen  Copie;  14,  Jones  party  at  Tucson. 

1876 — Jan.,  Jones  party  in  Mexico;  Feb.  3,  Little  Colorado  settlers 
left  Salt  Lake;  Mar.  23,  advance  company  at  Sunset;  24-31, 
locations  of  Allen  City,  Obed,  Sunset,  Ballenger;  28,  work 
commenced  on  St.  Joseph  dam;  Apr.,  location  of  Tenney's 
(Woodrufif)  Camp,  on  Little  Colorado  r.;  17,  United  Order 
established  on  Little  Colorado  r.;  Daniel  H.  Wells  and  party 
on  Little  Colorado  r.;  May,  Boston  party  passed  Little  Colo- 
rado settlements;  June  24,  L.  W.  Roundy  drowned  in  Colo- 
rado r.;  27,  Obed  moved  to  new  location;  June,  D.  W.  Jones 
party  returns  to  Utah;  first  L.  D.  S.  settlers  on  Showlow  Creek; 
July  17,  exploration  of  Tonto  Basin;  17,  first  child  born  in  Allen 
City;  19,  Allen  City  dam  washed  away;  Aug.,  Lorenzo  H.  Hatch 

288 


located  at  Savoia;  Oct.  18,  Pratt-Stewart  party  left  Utah  for 
Arizona;  Nov.  7,  Mt.  Trumbull  sawmill  re-established  near 
Mormon  Lake;  Dec.  23,  Pratt  party  reached  Phoenix;  Dec, 
Harrison  Pearce  established  ferry  at  mouth  of  Grand  Wash; 
Hamblin  located  new  route  to  Sunset,  via  Grand  Wash. 

1877 — Jan.  6,  Jones  settlement  party  organized  at  St.  George  by 
Brigham  Young,  Bunkerville  located,  first  L.  D.  S.  school 
in  Arizona,  at  Obed;  17,  Jones  party  left  St,  George;  Mar,  6, 
arr.  Salt  River,  founded  Lehi;  Mar.  23,  J.  D.  Lee  executed; 
May  20,  first  Indian  baptism  on  Salt  r.;  Aug.,  Merrill  com- 
pany left  Lehi;  29,  death  of  Brigham  Young,|  Hamblin  at 
Hopi;  Sept.  14,  start  of  Idaho-Salt  Lake  party  that  founded 
Mesa;  14,  Merrill  company  on  San  Pedro  r.;  Nov.  12,  Arkansas 
L.  D.  S.  arr.  on  Little  Colorado  r.;  29,  Merrill  party  location 
on  San  Pedro  r. 

1878 — Jan.,  C.  I.  Robson  and  others  selected  Mesa  location;  20,  Colo- 
rado r.  frozen  over  at  Lee's  Ferry;  22,  location  of  Taylor  on 
Little  Colorado  r. ;  23,  James  Pearce  first  L.  D.  S.  settler  on 
Silver  Creek;  27,  Little  Colorado  Stake  organized,  name  of 
Ballenger  changed  to  Brigham  City,  name  of  Allen  changed  to 
St.  Joseph;  Feb.  5,  Robson  party  at  Fort  Utah;  9,  naming  of 
Woodruff;  18,  settlers  at  Forest  Dale;  May  15,  first  L.  D.  S. 
locations  in  Tonto  Basin;  July  21,  Flake  and  Kartchner  moved 
the  site  of  Snowflake;  Sept.-Dec,  Erastus  Snow  and  party 
travel  in  Arizona;  Sept.  27,  Erastus  Snow  party  located  and 
named  Snowflake,  selected  Jesse  N.  Smith  as  President  Eastern 
Arizona  Stake;  Oct.  26,  first  settlers  on  Mesa  townsite;  Dec, 
re-settlement  of  Beaver  Dams. 

1879— Jan.  16,  arr.  at  Snowflake  of  Jesse  N.  Smith;  Feb.,  L.  D.  S. 
explorers  at  Smithville  on  Gila  r.;  Mar.,  L.  D.  S.  settlement  in 
Concho;  Apr.  8,  Showlow  company  located  at  Smithville; 
Completion  of  J.  W.  Young  woolen  factory  at  Moen  Copie; 
settlement  at  Shumway;  first  session  of  court  in  Apache  County; 
Nov.  16,  purchase  of  Barth  claims  at  St.  Johns. 

1880— Mar.  29,  St.  Johns  townsite  selected  by  Wilford  Woodruff; 
Sept.  19,  re-location  of  St.  Johns  townsite;  Sept.  26,  naming 
of  Alpine;  fall,  re-settlement  of  Overton;  Oct.  6,  arr.  at  St. 
Johns  of  D.  K.  Udall;  Nov.,  land  at  Graham  on  Gila  r.  bought 
by  Brigham  City  settlers;  Dec,  settlement  of  Matthews  on 
Gila  r. 

1881 — Jan.,  location  at  Graham;  Mar.,  settlement  at  Curtis  (Eden), 
trouble  with  Indians;  location  of  Holbrook;  name  of  Smith- 
ville changed  to  Pima. 

1882 — Jan.  28,  re-location  of  Holbrook  townsite;  June  1,  N.  B.  Robin- 
son killed  by  Indians,  Indian  troubles  in  mountain  settle- 
ments; June  24,  N.  C.  Tenney  killed  at  St.  Johns;  July,  estab- 
lishment of  first  paper  in  Apache  County;  July  19,  L.  D.  S. 
settlement  at  Tempe;  Dec.  10,  Maricopa  Stake  organized; 
Dec.  25,  naming  of  Thatcher. 

1883 — Jan.  4,  location  party  in  Mexico  from  St.  David;  13,  settlement 
of  Layton;  Feb.  25,  establishment  of  St.  Joseph  Stake  at  St. 


289 


David;  spring,  Forest  Dale  abandoned;  Aug.  25,  Wilford  and 

Heber  organized;  Nov.,  naming  of  Lehi. 
1884 — Mar.,  land  jumping  in  St.  Johns;  Nov.,  Young  and  Grant  party 

visit  Yaqui  Indian  country. 
1885 — Feb.  9,  departure  of  first  L.  D.  S.  Mexican  colony;  Nov.-Dec, 

Indian  depredations  in  Gila  Valley;  Dec.  1,  killing  of  Lorenzo 

and  Seth  Wright  on  Gila  r.;  Wilford  abandoned. 
1886— Feb.  9,  Andrew  S.  Gibbons  died  at  St.  Johns;  Aug.  31,  death 

of  Jacob  Hamblin  at  Pleasanton;  Sept.  8,  Isaac  C.  Haight 

died  at  Thatcher. 
1887 — Jan.  24,  first  donation  to  Arizona  temple;  May  3,  earthquake 

at  St.  David;  Fredonia  settled;  July  24,  St.  Johns  Stake  organ- 
ized; Dec.  4,  C.  I.  Robson  president  of  Maricopa  Stake;  Dec. 

18,    Snowflake    Stake    organized. 
1889 — Jan.  14,  St.  Johns  Stake  Academy  established;  21,  Snowflake 

Academy  established;  Apr.  2,  Brigham  Yoimg  Jr.,  and  Jesse 

N.  Smith  purchased  Little  Colorado  Valley  lands  in  New  York; 

May   11,   Wham  robbery,   near  Ft.   Grant. 
1890 — Feb.,  Great  floods  on  Little  Colorado  r.  and  Silver  Creek. 
1891 — Feb.,  large  damage  done  by  Salt  r.  floods. 
1892 — June  20,  Lot  Smith  killed  by  Indians  near  Tuba  City;  July 

3-4,  general  conference  of  Arizona  Stakes  at  Pinetop;  Dec.  8, 

Chas.  L.  Flake  killed  at  Snowflake. 
1893— Feb.  19,  artesian  flow  struck  at  St.  David. 
1894— Feb.  24,  C.  I.  Robson  died  at  Mesa;  May  10,  C.  R.  Hakes 

president  of  Maricopa  Stake. 
1898 — Jan.  29,  St.  Joseph  Stake  reorganized  under  Andrew  KimbaU; 

May  21,  death  of  Chas.  Shumway;  Sept.  1,  St.  Joseph  Stake 

Academy  opened  at  Thatcher. 
1903 — Feb.,  Tuba  settlers  sell  to  Indian  Bureau. 
1904— Sept.  15,  death  of  P.  C.  Merrill. 
1905 — May  1,  breaking  of  St.  Johns  reservoir. 
1906 — June  5,  death  of  Jesse  N.  Smith. 


290 


TRAGEDIES  OF  THE  FRONTIER 


It  is  notable  that  few  were  the  Mormons  who  have  met 
untimely  death  by  violence  in  the  Southwest.  It  is  beUeved 
that  the  following  brief  record  is,  very  nearly,  complete : 

George  A.  Smith,  Jr.— Nov.  2,  1860.  Killed  by  Navajos  near 
Tuba  City.     See  p.  66. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Whitmore  and  Robert  Mclntire — Jan.  8,  1866.  Killed 
by  Navajos  near  Pipe  Springs.     See  p.  72. 

Elijah  Averett— Jan.  1866.  Killed  by  Navajos  near  Paria  Creek. 
Averett  had  been  with  the  Capt.  James  Andrus  expedition  (see  p.  72) 
after  the  Whitmore-Mclntire  murderers  and  had  been  sent  back,  with 
a  companion,  with  dispatches  from  about  the  Crossing  of  the  Fathers. 
He  was  killed  on  this  return  journey  and  his  companion  wounded. 

Joseph  Berry,  Robert  Berry  and  the  latter's  wife,  Isabella — April 
2,  1866.  Killed  by  Paiutes  at  Cedar  Knoll  near  Short  Creek,  west  of 
Pipe  Springs.  The  three  were  in  a  wagon  and  had  attempted  to  escape 
by  running  their  horses  across  country,  but  the  Indians  cut  them  off. 
They  fought  for  their  lives  and  one  dead  Indian  was  found  near  their 
bodies.     In  the  woman's  body  was  a  circle  of  arrows. 

Joseph  Davidson,  wife  and  son — June  12,  1869.  Perished  of  thirst 
on  Southern  Nevada  desert,  in  Muddy  Valley  section.     See  p.  119-20. 

Lorenzo  W.  Roundy — May  24,  1876.  Drowned  in  Colorado 
River.     See  p.  87. 

Nathan  B.  Robinson — June  1,  1882.  Killed  by  Apaches  near 
Reidhead.     See  p.  172.     Photo.,  p.  229. 

Nathan  C.  Tenney — June  24,  1882.  Unintentionally  shot  by 
Mexicans  in  course  of  riot  at  St.  Johns.     See  p.  181. 

Jacob  S.  Ferrin— July  19,  1882.  Killed  by  Apaches  12  miles  east 
of  San  Carlos.     See  p.  253. 

Mrs.  W.  N.  Fife— Sept.  11,  1884.  Murdered  at  her  home  in  the 
Sulphur  Springs  Valley.  She  had  given  a  Mexican  dinner  and  was 
rewarded  by  a  shot  in  the  back.  A  13-year-old  daughter  was  saved 
by  the  timely  arrival  of  a  Mexican  employe.  The  murderer,  only 
known  as  Jesus,  was  ca,ptured  the  following  day  by  a  posse  of  settlers 
and,  after  full  determination  of  guilt,  was  hanged  to  a  tree.  The 
murderer's  skuU  now  is  in  possession  of  Dr.  Ezra  Rich  of  Ogden,  Utah. 

Lorenzo  and  Seth  Wright — Dec.  1,  1885.  Ambushed  by  Apaches 
in  Gila  Valley.     See  p.  254. 

Frank  Thurston— May  23,  1886.  Killed  by  Apaches  six  miles 
west  of  Pima.    See  p.  254. 

291 


Lot  Smith— Junel20,  1892.  Killed  by  Navajos  near  Tuba.  See 
p.  159-60. 

Chas.  L.  Flak^Dec.  8,  1892.  Killed  by  fugitive  criminal  at 
Snowflake.     See  p.  165. 

Horatio  Merrill  and  14-year-old  daughter,  Eliza — Dec.  3,  1895. 
Killed  by  Apaches  at  Ash  Springs,  30  miles  east  of^Pima.  This  crime 
has  been  charged  to  the  infamous  Apache  Kid. 

Isaac  Benj.  Jones — May  12,  1897.  Killed  at  El  Dorado  Canyon, 
near  the  Colorado  River.  While  freighting  ore  to  a  mill,  he  was 
ambushed  and  shot  from  his  wagon  by  a  Paiute,  Avote,  who  murdered 
several  other  whites  before  being  run  down  and  killed  by  Indians  on 
Cottonwood  Island,  where  he  had  taken  refuge. 

John  Bleak — Jan.  26,  1899.  Killed  by  Mexicans,  near  Hackberry, 
Mohave  County.  The  body  was  found  with  many  knife  thrusts,*. with 
indications  of  a  desperate  resistance  of  two  assailants. 

Frank  Lesueur  and  Augustus  Andrew  Gibbons — Mar.  27,  1900. 
Killed  by  outlaws  near  Navajo,  eastern  Apache  County.  They  had 
been  deserted  by  six  Mexican  members  of  a  posse  trailing  American 
cattle  thieves,  who  were  fleeing  northward  from  near  St.  Johns,  and 
were  ambushed  in  a  mountain  canyon.  Lesueur  was  killed  instantly 
by  a  shot  in  the  forehead  and  Gibbons,  already  shot  through  the  body, 
was  killed  by  a  shot  in  the  head  at  very  short  range.  The  murderers 
were  not  apprehended. 

Wm.  T.  Maxwell — 1901.  Killed  by  outlaws  near  Nutrioso.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  Mormon  Battalion  member. 

Wm.  W.  Berry— Dec.  22,  1903.  Murdered  in  Tonto  Basin.  John 
and  Zach  Booth,  goat  owners,  were  arrested  for  the  crime.  The  latter 
was  hanged  and  the  former  released  after  disagreement  of  the  jury. 
The  crime  also  embraced  the  murder  of  a  16-year-old  boy,  Juan  Vigil, 
son  of  a  herder.     Berry  at  the  time  was  in  charge  of  a  band  of  sheep. 

Hyrum  Smith  Peterson — Nov.  12,  1913.  Killed  near  Mesa. 
Peterson,  city  marshal,  was  shot  down  by  thieves  whom  he  was  trying 
to  arrest. 

Frank  McBride  and  Martin  Kempton— Feb.  10,  1918.  Killed 
60  miles  west  of  Pima.  McBride  was  sheriff  of  Graham  County  and 
Kempton  was  deputy.  The  two  sought  arrest  of  the  Powers  brothers 
and  Sisson,  draft  evaders,  who  were  ia  a  cabin  in  the  Galiuro  Moun- 
tains. With  them  was  killed  another  deputy,  Kane  Woo  tan.  In  a 
following  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  the  families  of  the  three 
were  given  $17,500,  to  be  invested  for  their  benefit. 


292 


KILLED  BY  IXDL\XS 

1 — Geo.  A.  Smith,  Jr.  2 — Dr.  Jas.  M.  Whltmore 

3 — Seth  Wright  4 — Jacob  Ferrin  5^Eliza  Mer:ill 

6 — Diana  Davis  Fife  7 — Lorenzo  Wright 


KILLED  BY  OUTLA^\  .s 

1— Nathan  C.  Tenney  2— Chas.  L.  Flake  3— Frank  Lesueur 

4 — Augustus  Andrew  Gibbons  5 — Wm.  Wiley  Berry 

6 — Hyrum  "S.  Peterson  7 — R.  Franklin  McBride'  8 — Martin  Kempton 


INDEX 

See  Chronology  287-9Q,  Mormon  Settlement  Place  Names  281-86 


Adair — Named  for  early  resident  36 

Adair,  Samuel  N.— Photo.  84 

Adair,  Wesley — Battalion  member  36,  photo.  21 

Agriculture — Mormon  pioneers  in  2,  first  in  N.  Ariz.  117 

Allen,  Lt.-Col.  Jas. — Commander  Battalion  10,  died  11 

Allen,  Rufus  C. — Battalion  member  36,  to  S.  America  55,  in  Las  Vegas 

section  106 
Allen,  W.  C— Heads  L.  Colorado  party  138,  photo.  188 
Alma— Est.  218 

Allred,  Mrs.  R.  W.— With  husband  on  Battalion  march  36,  photo.  29 
Allred,  Reuben  W. — Battalion  member  36,  photo.  29 
Alpine — Burial  place  of  Jacob  Hamblin  88,  187,  est.  186 
Ancient  Races — Canal  at  Mesa  213-14,  in  Arizona  224-28,  canals  of, 

213-14,  225-28,  in  Gila  Valley  241 
Andrus,  Capt.  Jas. — Led  party  against  Indians  72 
Apaches — Encroachments  on  Forest  Dale  170-171,  attack  on  Col.  Carr's 

command  172,  attack  on  Camp  Apache  194-95,  experiences  with  in 

Gila  Valley  250-56,  Chiricahua  outbreaks  250-53,  murders  in  Gila 

Valley  252-53 
Arkansas  Immigrants — At  Taylor  148,  on  L.  Colorado  151-52 
Artesian  Water— At  St.  David  238,  wells  in  Gila  Valley  259 
Asay,  Joseph — Aids  Powell  exp.  128-29 
Atlantic  &  Pacific  R.  R.— Land  grant  193-94 

B 

Ballenger,  Jesse  O. — Heads  L.  Colorado  settlement  138 
Ballenger's  Camp  (Brigham  City) — Est.  140 
Banta,  A.  F.— Arizona  pioneer  178,  180,  184-85 
Barbenceta — Navajo  Chief  77-79 

Barrus,  Lt.  Ruel — Battalion  officer  at  San  Luis  Rey  28 
Barth,  Sol— On  L.  Colorado  177-79 
Bartlett,  John  R.— At  Tubac  56-57,  in  Texas  57-58 
Bass,  Willis  W. — Grand  Canyon  guide  75 
Beadle,  J.  H.— Visit  to  Lonely  Dell  and  J.  D.  Lee  91-^ 
Beale,  E.  F. — At  San  Pascual  26,  camel  survey,  carried  dispatches  east, 
advised  Washington  of  discovery  of  gold  33 

293 


Beaver  Dams — Early  occupation  6,  101,  settlement  117-18 

Beebe,  Nelson  P. — Leader  of  Arkansas  party  151 

Bees — First  in  Utah  47 

Bellamy,  Edward— Study  of  United  Order  131 

Bennett,  Capt.  Frank  F. — In  great  Navajo  council  76-78 

Berardo — At  Horsehead  Crossing  163 

Berry,  Mrs.  Rachael— State  legislator  106 

Berry,  Wm.  Wiley — Killed  by  outlaws,  photo.  291 

Bibliography  279-80 

Biggs,  Thos.— Lehi  settler  203,  photo.  212 

Bigler,  Henry  W. — At  gold  discovery  43-44,  photo.  20 

Bluewater,  N.  M.— Settlement  189 

Blythe,  John  L. — Launched  boat  at  Lee's  Ferry  92,  94,  at  Moen  Copie 
137,  at  Le  Roux  Spring  152,  photo.  132 

Bonelli,  Daniel— Early  ferryman  97-121,  photo.  132 

Boston  Party— In  L.  Colorado  Valley  149-51 

Boyle,  Henry  G. — Battalion  member  27,  36,  outlined  Mormon  road  29, 
first  president  S.  States  Mission  36,  photo.  29 

Brannan,  Samuel — Head  of  "Brooklyn"  exp.  38-42,  Wyoming  confer- 
ence with  Brigham  Young,  died  in  Mexico  42 

Brigham  City,  Ariz. — Est.  140,  naming  145,  abandonment  147,  photo, 
of  old  fort  140 

Brigham  City,  Utah — Experiences  in  United  Order  130 

Brinkerhoff,  Hyrum — Muddy  r.  and  Gila  v.  pioneer  249,  photo.  260 

Brinkerhoff,  Margaret — Muddy  r.  and  Gila  v.  pioneer  249,  photo.  261 

Brizzee,  H.  W. — Battalion  member  27,  in  Arizona  36,  photo.  28 

"Brooklyn" — Mormon  immigrant  ship  4,  38 

Brown,  Capt.  Jas. — Led  at  Pueblo,  Colo.  5,  battalion  officer  11-12, 
arr.  Salt  Lake,  to  Cal.  for  pay  29-30 

Brown,  Jas.  S. — On  Muddy  r.  36,  at  Cal.  gold  discovery  44,  head  of 
1875  scouting  party  137,  battalion  member  138,  photo.  20 

Bryce— Est.  249 

Bryce,  Ebenezer — Early  Gila  settler  249,  photo.  260 

Bushman,  John  V.— N.  E.  Ariz,  settler  140,  144-45,  155,  photo.  188 


Call,  Anson— Founded  CaUville  2,  113,  photo.  132 

Callville — Port  on  Colorado  r.  44,  est.   113-114,  abandonment  116, 

county  seat  of  Pah-ute  Co.  123 
Camels — Brought  by  Beale  survey  33 
Campbell,  Gov.  T.  E. — Assistance  in  work  iii,  circumtoured  Grand 

Canyon  69,  Prest.  League  of  the  Southwest  110 
Cannon,  Angus  M. — At  Callville  72,  on  Colorado  r.  114 
Cannon,  David  H. — Baptism  of  Shivwits  at  St.  George  67,  photo.  117 
Carson,  Kit — Guide  of  Kearny  exp.  25-26,  carried  dispatches  east  33, 

campaign  against  Navajo  76 
Carson  Valley,  Nev. — Settled  by  Mormons  5 
Casa  Grande — Ancient  ruin  227 
Cataract  Canyon — Home  of  Hava-supai  69,  entered  by  Hamblin  69, 

by  Garces  69,  by  Ives  111 
Central— Est.  249 

Chemehuevis  Indians — War  band  in  Muddy  r.  district  109 
Chronology  287-90 


294 


Chuichupa,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  268 

Claridge,  Rebecca— Photo  261 

Claridge,  Samuel  H. — Muddy  and  Gila  r.  pioneer  249,  photo.  260 

Cluff,  Benjamin — At  Las  Vegas  105 

Coal — Dug  at  San  Diego  by  G.  W.  Sirrine  47 

Cocheron,  Augusta  Joyce — Description  of  Yerba  Buena  39 

Cocopah  Indians — Colorado  r.  deck  hands  112 

Colorado  City — Est.  on  site  of  Yuma  111 

Colorado  River — Reached  by  Battalion  17,  watershed  embraced  within 

State  of  Deseret  50,  ferries  of  89-97,  frozen  over  95,  transportation 

110-116,  efforts  to  utilize  water  and  power,  drainage  area,  flow, 

water   storage,   navigation,   watershed  now  barred  for   navigation 

110-14 
Colter,  J.  G.  H.— At  Round  Valley  185 
Concho — Hard  living  conditions  168,  est.  183,  naming  184 
Cooke,  Lt.-Col.  P.  St.  George — Commander  Mormon  Battalion  11-12, 

congratulatory  order  15,  story  of  march  18-19,  left  Santa  Fe  25, 

crossed  Colorado  r.  26,  led  Johnston's  cavalry  to  Utah,  resignation 

32,  photo.  20 
Cooley,  C.  E. — Won  Showlow  in  card  game,  sold  168 
Cooperative  Stores — Est.  in  many  communities  133 
Co-quap — Paiute  killed  at  St.  Thomas  108 
Cotton — Raised  by  Maricopas  18,  Pima  long-staple  211 
Crismon,  Chas. — At  San  Bernardino  46,  took  first  bees  to  Utah  47,  at 

founding  of  Mesa  212,  photo.  213 
Crosby,  Geo.  H.  Sr.— Photo.  188 
Crosby,  Jesse  W. — In  re-settlement  of  Muddy  127 
Crosby,  Taylor— At  Hopi  65 
Crossing  of  the  Fathers — Passed  by  Escalante  and  Dominguez  59, 

Hamblin's  was  first  crossing  by  white  men  since  Spanish  days  64, 

early  use  of  89,  photo.,  frontispiece 
Curtis— Est.  248 

Curtis,  EHzabeth  Hanks— Photo.  261,  in  Gila  Valley  253 
Curtis,  Josephine — Photo.  189,  in  Gila  Valley 
Curtis,  Martha— Photo.  189,  in  Gila  Valley 
Curtis,  Moses  M.— Gila  Valley  pioneer  247,  at  Eden  248 
Curtis,  Virginia— Photo.  189,  in  Gila  Valley 
Gushing,  Frank  H. — Southwestern  ethnologist  213-14 
Cutler,  R.  J. — Muddy  settler  119,  Rep.  Pah-ute  Co.  in  Ariz.  3d  and  4th 

legislatures  124,  clerk  Rio  Virgen  Co.  126 


Davidson,  Jas. — Death  of  family  of  thirst  119-120 

Davis,  Capt.  Daniel  C. — Battalion  officer  28 

Davis,  Durias — Visit  to  Hopi  63 

Day,  Henry — In  charge  at  Moen  Copie  136 

Defiance,  Fort — Est.  5,  great  council  with  Navajo  76,  settlement  by 

Hamblin  of  Indian  troubles  86 
Dellenbaugh,  F.  S. — Estimate  of  Mormon  settlements  6,  128,  wrote  of 

Navajo  council  76 
Deseret — State  of,  48-52,  map  51,  origin  of  name  48,  boundaries  49, 

organization,  legislature  52 
Diaz,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  267-68 


295 


Dixie,  Utah's — Brigham  Young  in  81,  ref.  to  104 

Dobson,  Thos.  F. — First  settler  at  Fredonia  99 

Dodge,  Enoch — Fight  with  Navajos  71 

Dominguez  and  Escalante — On  Spanish  Trail  53 

Dublan,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  268 

Dykes,  Geo.  P.— Battalion  officer  11,  21,  37,  photo.  20,  death  33 

£ 

Eagar— Est.  185 

Earthquake— At  St.  David  236 

Eastern  Arizona  Stake — Est.  195-96 

Eden— Est.  248 

Ehrenberg — Military  depot  111 

El  Dorado  Canyon — At  Cottonwood  Island  114 

Ellsworth,  Edmund — Salt  Lake  Pioneer  106 

Emory,  W.  H.— With  Kearny  exp.  25-26 

Engelhardt,  Father  Z. — Estimate  of  BattaUon  members  31 

Escalante-Dominguez — On  Spanish  Trail  53-54,  at  Crossing  of  the 

Fathers  89 
"Explorer" — Ives'  steamboat  on  Colorado  r.  62,  111,  photo.  68 


Farish,  Thos.  E. — Former  Arizona  Historian  iv 

Ferrin,  Jacob  S. — Killed  by  Apaches  253,  photo.  292 

Fife,  Diana  Davis— Killed  by  Indians  291,  photo.  292 

Fife,  J.  D. — Sulphur  Springs  Valley  pioneer,  photo.  189 

Fife,  Wm.  N. — Sulphur  Springs  Valley  pioneer,  photo.  189 

Fish,  Joseph — Early  historian  166,  photo.  172 

Flagstaff — Naming  of  151 

Flake,  Chas.  L.— Killed  by  outlaw  165,  photo.  293 

Flake,  Wm.  J. — Land  purchases  at  Snowflake  164,  at  Showlow  168, 

at  Concho  183,  at  Springerville  185,  at  Nutrioso  185-86,  photo.  188 ' 
Follett,  Wm.  A. — Battalion  member  37,  to  Arizona  106,  photo.i_28^ 
Foote,  Jos.  Warren — At  St.  Joseph,  Nevada  118 
Forest  Dale — Est.  170-71,  Indian  encroachments,  abandonment/claims 

for  damages  170-73 
Foreword  iii-iv 
Foutz,  Joseph — Photo.  189 
Franklin— Est.  250 
Fredonia — Visited  by  Gov.  Campbell  69,  est.,  naming,  description' of 

99-100,  view  108 
Fremont,  John  C. — Dissension  in  American  forces  9,  arrest  and  trial  32, 

on  Spanish  Trail  54 


Garces,  Father  Francisco — Early  Spanish  priest  53,  at  Hopi  64 

Garcia,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  268 

Gass,  Octavius  D. — Represented  Mohave  Co.  in  2d  legislature  and 

Pah-ute  Co.  in  3d  and  4th  Legislatures  124,  in  5th  Legislature  125, 

floated  down  Colorado  r.  125 

296 


Genoa — First  American  settlement  in  Nevada  5 

Gibbons,  Andrew  S. — Investigated  Welsh  legend  64,''took  Hopi  visitors 
home  69,  shown  sacred  stone  of  Hopi  81,  Salt  Lake  Pioneer  106, 
interpreter  on  Muddy  108-18,  trip  down  Colorado  r.,  in  Ariz.  Legis- 
lature from  Pah-ute  Co.  125,  photo.  84 

Gibbons,  Mrs.  A.  S.— Photo.  189 

Gibbons,  Augustus  A. — Killed  by  Indians  292,  photo.  293 

Gibbons,  Richard — At  Hopi  village  82 

Gibbons,  Wm.  H.— At  Hopi  village  82 

Gila  River — Barge  made  by  Battalion  14,  route  of  Battalion  17,  land 
erosion  258,  trouble  with  mill  tailings  259 

Gold — Battalion  party  present  at  discovery  43 

Goodwin,  Camp — In  Gila  Valley  251,  abandonment  258 

Graham— Est.  246 

Graham  County — Est.  250 

Grand  Canyon — Visited  by  Escalante-Dominguez  53-54,  circumtoured 
by  Hamblin  68,  by  Gov.  Campbell  69,  expl.  by  Powell^74-76,  90,  92, 
to  be  bridged  96 

Grand  Falls — Haight  party  at  92,  view  156 

Grand  Wash — Ferry  site  68,  crossed  by  Hamblin  96 

Grant — Early  name  of  Luna  187 

Grant  Camp— Old  and  new,  south  of  Gila  251 

Grant,  Heber  J. — Church  President  iii,  photo.  61,  visit  to  St.' Johns  195 
Mexican  trips  237,  267 

Greeley,  Lewis— With  1863  Hamblin  party  69 

Greer— Est.  186 

H 

Haight,  Horton  D. — Crossed  river  at  Paria  92,  first  attempt  at  Arizona 
colonization  135-136,  photo.  204 

Hakes,  Collins  R. — At  San  Bernardino  45,  President  Maricopa  Stake, 
at  Bluewater,  death  189,  221,  photo.  220 

HaU,  Miss  S.  M.— Description  of  Lee's  Ferry  93,  of  Fredonia  99,  100 

Hamblin,  Frederick— At  Hopi  64,  at  Alpine  186,  fight  with  bear  188, 
photo.  84 

Hamblin,  Jacob — Frontier  guide  55,  missionary  to  Indians,  entry  in 
Muddy  section  59,  Mountain  Meadows  massacre,  saves  wagon 
trains,  photo.  60,  at  Las  Vegas  lead  mines,  encounter  with  Ives 
party  61-2,  at  Colorado  r.  62,  114,  trips  to  Hopi  63,  65-67,  70,  72, 
took  Hopi  visitors  home  69,  with  Powell  at  Shivwits  council  74-5, 
guide  for  Powell,  council  with  Navajo  76-77,  91,  error  in  date  of 
great  Navajo  council  80,  took  provisions  to  second  Powell  exp., 
visited  Fort  Defiance  81,  1871-2-3  trips  82,  ambassador  to  Navajo, 
in  danger  of  death  83-86,  located  Grand  Wash  road,  wagon  route  to 
Sunset,  guide  for  D.  H.  Wells  1876  party,  ordained  Apostle  to  the 
Lamanites  86-87,  moved  to  Arizona,  death,  monument  inscription 
87-88,  185,  187,  first  Colorado  r.  crossing  at  Ute  ford,  1858,  crossed 
at  Paria  on  raft  90,  located  road  to  San  Francisco  mountains  92,  in 
1862  crossed  river  at  Ute  ford,  in  1863  crossed  at  Grand  Wash  96 

HambHn,  Wm. — At  Hopi  64,  at  naming  of  Pipe  Springs  98 

Hancock,  Levi — Battalion  poet  12 

Hardy's  Landing — Visited  by  Call  97,  Callville  visited  by  Hardy  114 

Harris,  Llewellyn — Welsh  legend  64-65 

297 


Haskell,  Thales — Investigated  steamer  on  Colorado  r.  62,  at  Hopi  65, 
66,  68,  69,  left  Hopi  70,  in  Muddy  district  107,  with  Paiutes  116, 
photo.  229 

Hatch,  Ira— With  Paiutes  106-7,  with  Hopi  64,  70,  at  Meadows  184, 
photo.  229 

Hatch,  Lorenzo— Escape  from  drowning  87,  at  Taylor  167 

Hava-supai  Indians — See  Cataract  Canyon 

Hawkins,  Wm.  R.— With  Powell  exp.  75 

Hayden,  C.  T. — Visited  by  Jones  party  198,  assistance  to  settlers  207, 
est.  Hayden's  Ferry  219 

Head,  W.  S.— Post  trader  at  Verde  87 

Heaton,  Jonathan — Resident  of  Moccasin  98,  photo,  with  sons  229 

Heber — In  Mogollons  155,  in  New  Mexico  187 

Holbrook — Naming  163 

Holmes,  Henry — Description  of  L.  Colorado  valley  136 

Hopi — Visited  by  Father  Garces  53,  64,  by  Escalante  54,  by  Jacob 
Hamblin  63-72,  Welsh  legend,  composite  language  63-64,  snake  dance, 
tribesmen  taken  to  Salt  Lake  68,  threw  Navajos  from  cliff  79,  Tuba 
taken  to  Utah  80,  sacred  stone  81-82,  southern  origin  228 

Hortt,  Henry  J. — Fredonia  settler  99 

Hubbard— Est.  249 

Hubbell,  J.  L. — Investigated  Utah  Indian  troubles  84 

Hulett,  Schuyler — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 

Hunt— Est.  184 

Hunt,  Capt.  Jefferson — Battalion  officer  11,  24,  37 

Hunt,  John — Battalion  member  37,  Mormon  road  mail  carrier  55,  at 
Snowflake  164,  photo.  21 

Hunt,  Marshall — Battalion  member  37 

Hunter,  Capt.  Jesse  B. — Battalion  officer  11 


Idaho — Agricultural  settlement  5 
Index— To  book  293 
Irritaba — Mohave  chief  62 
Iverson,  Alma — At  LeRoux  Spring  152 
Ives,  J.  C. — Colorado  r.  exploration  62,  111 

Ivins,  Anthony  W. — Indian  warfare  72,  crossed  Colorado  r.  on  the 
ice  95,  agent  for  Mexican  lands  267-68,  275,  photo.  165 


Jenson,  Andrew — Assistant  Church  Historian  iii,  data  on  Callville  113, 

in  Muddy  Valley  127,  in  L.  Colorado  Valley  142-43,  at  Tuba  City 

158,  photo.  173 
Johnson,  B.  F.— At  Tempe  219,  at  Nephi,  death  220,  photo.  189 
Johnson,  Warren  M. — Escape  from  drowning  187,  photo,  of  Lse's 

Ferry  home  109 
Johnson,  W.  H. — In  charge  of  Virgin  salt  mines  127 
Johnston,  Capt.  A.  R. — Killed  at  San  Pascual  25 
Johnston,  Gen.  A.  S.— Exp.  to  Utah  32 
Johnston,  Capt.  Geo.  A. — Ferried  Beale  camel  exp.  across  river  97, 

111,  112,  offered  to  handle  Salt  Lake  freight  115 


Johnston,  W.  J. — Batt.  member  37,  gold  disc.  44,  photo.  20 

Jones,  D.  W. — First  exp.  to  Mexico  197-99,  foundation  of  Lehi  201, 

203-4,  death  209,  photos.  205,  212 
Jones,  Nathaniel  V. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  21 
Jonesville — See  Lehi 

Jones,  Wiley  C. — With  Jones  party  197,  photo.  205 
Juarez,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  267-68 
Judd,  Hyrum — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 
Judd,  Zadok  K. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  29 
Junction  City^On  Colorado  r.  118 


Kaibab  Plateau — Visited  by  Powell  91,  view  101 

Kanab — Passed  in  1920  by  Gov.  Campbell  69,  Powell  exploration  at  91, 

est.  97,  120 
Kane,  Col.  Thos.  L. — Introduction  to  Tyler  history  19-20,  conference 

with  Paiutes  107 
Kapurats — Paiute  name  for  Maj.  Powell  75 

Kearny,  Gen.  S.  W. — In  command  California  invasion  9,  10,125,'^ 2Q 
Kempton,  Martin— Killed  by  outlaws  292,  photo.  293 
Kimball,  Andrew — Prest.  St.  Joseph  Stake  263,  photo.  196 
Kimball,  Heber  C. — Chief  Justice  of  Deseret  52 
Klineman,  Conrad — Salt  Lake  Pioneer  106 


Laguna  Dam — Bars  Colorado  navigation  112-13 

Lake,  George — Leader  on  L.  Colorado  136,  146,  to  Gila  Valley  147, 
photo.  188 

Land  Grants— Atlantic  &  Pacific  192,  194,  Reavis  fraud  228-31,  Texas- 
Pacific  claim  229,  231,  259 

Las  Vegas,  Nev. — Visited  by  P.  P.  Pratt  55,  station  on  Mormon  road 
101,  detail  of  missionaries  105,  visited  by  Call  114 

Las  Vegas  County — Creation  asked  122 

"Latter-day  Saints" — Designation  of  1 

Layton— Est.  249-50 

Layton,  Christ. — BattaHon  member  24-5,  36-7,  instructions  to  260, 
biography  262-63,  photo.  196 

Layton,  Elizabeth— Photo.  261 

Lead  mines — In  Nevada  104 

League  of  the  Southwest — Water  storage  plans  110 

Leavitt,  Dudley — Smelted  lead  ore  in  Nevada  61,  at  Hopi  64,  at 
naming  of  Pipe  Springs  98 

LeBaron,  David  T.— Tempe  settler  219 

Lee,  John  D. — Location  on  Paria  91-93,  messenger  for  Battalion  92, 
residence  on  Canyon  93,  capture,  in  Utah,  execution  93,  experience 
of  wife  with  Indians  94,  photo,  of  home  at  Moen  Avi  149 

Lee's  Ferry — Visited  by  Gov.  Campbell  69,  passage  of  Roundy  party  82, 
early  crossings  by  Hamblin  90,  Powell  at  91-92,  John  D.  Lee's  resi- 
dence at  91-93,  ferry  bought  by  Church  93,  description  of  93-94, 
river  frozen  95,  Stanton  exp.,  main  route  into  Arizona  94 

Lehi— Map  202,  est.  204-10,  floods  210,  arr.  of  Mesa  party  213 

299 


Leithead,  Jas, — In  charge  of  Muddy  settlements  12-21,  built  boat  125, 

supplied  Powell  exp.  129 
Lemhi,  Fort — Early  settlement  in  Idaho  5 
LeRoux,  Antoine — Guide  to  Battalion  16,  Arizona  places  named  for  34, 

guide  for  Bartlett  party  57 
LeRoux  Springs — History  150-51 
Lesueur,  Frank — Killed  by  outlaws  292,  photo.  293 
Lesueur,  Jas.  W. — President  Maricopa  Stake  221,  photo.  220 
Lesueur,  John  T. — President  Maricopa  Stake  221,  photo.  220 
Lewis,  Samuel — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  21 
List  of  Illustrations  xi,  xii 
Little  Colorado  River — Irrigation  difficulties  141-42,  floods  143,  view  of 

crossing  140 
Little  Colorado  Stake— Org.  195 

Little  Colorado  Valley — Haight  exp.  135,  settlement  138,  Arizona  ex- 
periences 138-63,  drought  190-91 
Littlefield — Northwestern  Arizona  settlement  6,  101,  117-18,  visited  by 

Gov.  Campbell  69 
Lonely  Dell — Lee's  name  for  mouth  of  Paria  91 
Los  Angeles — Battalion  experiences  22,  Standage's  description  of,  name 

23-24,  muster-out  of  Battalion  27 
Los  Muertos — Ancient  city  213-214 
Luna— Est.  187 

Lund,  A.  H. — Church  Historian  iii 
Lund,  A.  Wm. — Church  Librarian  iii 
Lyman,  Amasa  M. — San  Bernardino  experiences  45,  in  Arizona  106, 

with  Col.  Kane  on  Muddy  r.  107 
Lyman,  Francis  M.— Exp.  near  St.  Johns  182,  at  St.  David  237 

M 

Macdonald— Est.  236 

Macdonald,  A.  F. — Director  of  cattle  company  at  Pipe  Springs  98, 

President  Maricopa  Stake  98,  220,  transfer  to  Mexico,  death  221, 

named  St.  David  235,  in  Mexico  267,  photo.  220 
Malaria— At  Obed  147,  on  San  Pedro  and  Gila  233-34 
Maps — State  of  Deseret  51,  Pah-ute  County  103,  Northeastern  Arizona 

139,  Plat  of  Lehi  202,  Prehistoric  canals  226,  Southeastern  Arizona 

243,  Arizona  and  Roads  309 
Maricopa  Indians — 18 
Maricopa  Stake— Org.  220-21 
Matthews— Est.  247 
Maxwell,  Wm.  B. — Battalion  member  37,  at  Moccasin  Springs  97, 

photo.  29 
Mazatzal  City — Tonto  Basin  settlement  174 
McBride,  R.  Franklin— Killed  by  outlaws  292,  photo.  293 
McClellan,  Almeda— Photo.  189 
McClellan,  Wm.  C— Battalion  member  37,  photo.  21 
Mclntire,  Robert — Killed  by  Indians  72 
Mclntyre,  Wm. — Battalion  surgeon  11 
McConnell,  Jehiel— At  Hopi  66,  68-70 
McMurrin,  Jos.  W. — At  LeRoux  Spring  152,  photo.  165 
Meadows — Purchase  179,  occupied  184 
Meeden,  C.  V.— Early  Colorado  r.  pilot  112 

300 


MerriU,  Eliza— KHled  by  Indians  292,  photo.  292 

Merrill,  Philemon  C— Adjutant  Battalion  21,  36-7,  custodian  of  Utah 
stone,  pioneer  on  San  Pedro  33,  36,  photos.  20,  212,  in  Lehi  party  203, 
separation  from  Jones  207,  est.  of  St.  David  235 

Mesa — Org.  of  "The  Mesa  Union"  133,  est.  211,  canal  digging  213, 
building  of  first  house  215,  civic  est.,  naming  216-17 

Mesquite — Settlement  on  Virgin  119,  127 

Mexico — Jones  party  trip  199,  exploration  for  settlement  236,  explora- 
tion 266,  est.  of  colonies  267-270,  flight  from  270-274,  repopulation 
275 

Mill  Point— Est.  on  Muddy  r.  118 

Miller,  Henry  W.— At  Beaver  Dams  117,  photo.  188 

Miller,  Jacob— Sec'y  to  Haight  exp.  136,  photo.  204 

Milligan,  Fort— Est.  88 

Moabi — Near  Moen  Copie  137 

Moccasin  Springs — Occupation  of  97,  view  101 

Moen  Copie — Visited  by  HambUn  82-3,  Blythe  location  137,  niission 
post,  Indian  experiences  157,  land  bought  by  government  161,  view  85 

Mohave  County — Embraced  Nevada  point  123 

Mohave,  Fort — Est.  5 

Moody,  Elizabeth— Photo.  261 

Moody,  John  M.— First  settler  of  Thatcher  249,  photo.  260 

Morelos,  Colonia — Sonora  settlement  268 

Mormon  Battalion — Reason  for  formation  7-8,  muster  at  Council  Bluffs 
11,  at  San  Bernardino  ranch  13, 16,  arr.  Tucson  13,  arr.  Pima  villages 
14,  left  San  Bernardino  18,  experiences  24-25,  muster-out  27,  gold 
discovery  43 

Mormon  Battalion  Monument — Arizona  contributes  34-35,  photo.  36 

Mormon  Dairv — Est.  154 

Mormon  Road— Broken  by  Boyle  party  29,  early  travel  44,  mail  service 
55,  stations  on  101 

Moroni,  Fort— Est.  152-53,  use  by  John  W.  Young  153,  named  Fort 
Rickerson  154,  photos.  157 

Mountain  Meadows — Massacre  45,  HambUn  resident  in  60 

Mount  Trumbull — Powell  and  Hamblin  at  Indian  council  74,  sawmill 
155 

Mowrey,  Harley — Last  Battalion  survivor  34 

Muddy  Valley— Settlement  6,  117-129,  population  122,  Arizona  Legis- 
lature protested  separation  123,  return  of  settlers  127 

Munk,  Dr.  J.  A. — Library  of  Arizoniana  166 

N 

Naraguts — Paiute  guide  64 

Navajo  Indians — Fight  near  Pipe  Springs  71,  stole  stock  in  Utah, 
great  council  with  Powell  and  Hamblin  76,  captured  by  Hopi,  agree- 
ment to  remain  south  of  river  79,  killing  of  three  tribesmen  in  tFtah  84 

Nephi— Est.  220 

Nevada — First  American  settlement  by  Mormons  5-6,  jurisdiction  over 
Muddy  district  101,  old  mapping  102,  Muddy  abandoned  121-24, 
protest  against  separation  from  Arizona  123-24 

New  Hope — Early  California  colony  41 

Northeastern  Arizona — Map  139 

Nutrioso— Est.  185-86 

Nuttall,  L.  John — Exper.  in  crossing  Colorado  r,  87 

301 


o 


Oaxaca,  Colonia — Sonora  settlement  268 
Obed — Est,  140,  abandonment  147 
Ogden— Site  bought  with  Battalion  pay  31 
Onate,  Juan  de — First  New  Mexican  governor  53 
Orderville— United  Order  settlement  132 
Osborn's  Cave — In  Muddy  section  107 
Overton— Muddy  settlement  118,  127,  128 


Pace,  Lt.  Jas. — Photo.  21,  Battalion  oflBcer  28,  37,  brought  wheat  to 

Utah  29,  at  Thatcher  36 
Pace,  Wilson  D. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  21 
Pace,  W.  W.— At  Nutrioso  186 
Pacheco,  Colonia — Mexican  settlement  268 
Pah-ute — Early  Arizona  county  101,  map  103,  created  by  Arizona 

Legislature,  boundaries,  county  seat  123,  abandoned  by  Arizona  124, 

representation  in  Legislature  124-26 
Paiutes — Danger  from  53,  missionary  efforts  106,  threatened  Muddy 

settlers  108-09 
Paria — Visited  by  Escalante  exp.  54,  settlement  near  mouth  90,  photo. 

109,  view  of  ranch  and  ferry  148 
Parke,  Lt.  A.  J. — Survey  party  32 
Patrick,  H.  R. — Map  of  ancient  canals  226 
Pearce,  Harrison — Photo.  132 
Pearce,  James  —  At  Hopi  66,  brought  Indians  to  be  baptized  67,  at 

Taylor  96,  167,  photo.  84 
Pearce's  Ferry — Crossed  by  Hamblin  69,  at  Grand  Wash  96 
Perkins,  Jesse  N. — Head  of  Mesa  colony  220 
Peterson,  Hyrum  S.— Killed  by  outlaws  292,  photo.  293 
Pettegrew,  "Father"  David— Advice  to  Battalion  23,  27 
Phoenix — Visited  by  Jones  party  198,  by  Pratt-Trejo  exp.   199,  by 

Lehi  settlers  203 
Pima— Est.  244 

Pima  Indians — Visited  by  Battalion  22 
Pinedale— Est.  169 

Pinetop — Est.  170,  Church  conference  170,  view  221 
Pipe  Springs — Settlement  and  naming,  first  telegraph  office  in  Arizona 

98-99,  view  100 
Place  Names  of  the  Southwest— 281-86 
Pleasanton,  N.  M.— Settlement,  death  of  Hamblin  88,  189 
Pleasant  Valley— War  175 
Polhamus,  Isaac — Early  Colorado  r.  pilot  112 
Pomeroy,  Francis  M.— Salt  Lake  Pioneer  106,  at  founding  of  Mesa  212, 

215,  photo.  213 
Population — Latter-day  Saints  in  Arizona  277 
Porter,  Sanford — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  21 
Powell,  Maj.  J.  W. — Visited  Paiutes,  met  Hamblin  74,  in  council  with 

Navajo  86,  first  exp.  reached  mouth  of  Paria  90,  to  Moqui  towns,  to 

Salt  Lake,  explorations  from  Paria  91,  at  Kanab  Wash  92,  Mormon 

assistance  at  end  of  first  voyage  128-29 

302 


Pratt,  Helaman — Capt.  of  Muddy  militia  109,  in  second  southern  exp. 

199,  photos  205 
Prescott — Founded  5 

Prows,  Wm.  C. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  229 
Pueblo — First  Anglo-Saxon  settlement  in  Colorado  5,  Company  ordered 

to  winter  at  12,  Battalion  sick  sent  to  21,  departure  of  detachment 

29-30 
Pulsipher,  David — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 


Railroads — Construction  northern  Arizona  191-92,  Atlantic  &  Pacific 

grant  193-94,  construction  through  Gila  Valley  256-57 
Ramah,  N.  M.— Settlement  188-89 
Ramsey,  Ralph — Utah  artist,  moved  to  Ariz.  166 
Reidhead— Est.  169 
Reidhead,  John — Woodruff  settler  162 

Richards,  Joseph  H. — L.  Colorado  settler  141,  photos.  172,  173 
Richards,  Mary— Photos.  173,  189 
Rioville — At  mouth  of  Virgin  118 

Roberts,  B.  H.— Story  of  Battahon  24-25,  Utah  historian  34 
Robinson,  Nathan  B. — Killed  by  Apaches  172,  photo.  229 
Robson,  Chas.  I. — At  founding  of  Mesa  211-12,  President  Maricopa 

Stake  220,  death  221,  photo.   220 
Rogers,  Henry  C— In  Lehi  party  203,  209,  Church  officer  220-21, 

photo.  212 
Rogers,  J.  K. ^Leader  in  Gila  settlement  246,  photo.  260 
Rogers,  Jo.sephine  Wall — Photo.  261 
Rogers,  Samuel  H. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 
Roundy,  Lorenzo  W. — Led  party  across  Colorado  r.  82,  drowned  87, 

photo.  204 
Rusling,  Gen.  J.  F. — Recommended  use  of  Colorado  r.  as  waterway  110 


Safford — Est.  242,  outlawry  255-56,  first  school  house  photo.  245 

Safford,  Gov.  A.  P.  K.— At  Tombstone  239,  on  Gila  242 

Salt — From  Virgin  r.  mines  HI,  description  of  deposit  127,  Zuni  salt 
lake,  Hopi  source  of  supply  156,  central  Arizona  deposits  156-57 

Salt  Lake  Pioneers — Later  Arizonans  106 

Salt  River  Valley — Visited  by  Jones  party  198,  Trejo  description  200 

San  Bernardino  (Cal.) — Settlement  5,  est.  44-5,  abandonment  46, 
Bartlett  account  of  purchase  57 

San  Bernardino  Ranch — Reached  by  Battalion  13,  16,  Standage  refer- 
ence 21 

San  Diego — On  route  of  Battalion,  Standage  reference  to  22,  arr. 
Kearny  exp.  26,  post  of  Battalion  company  28,  Battalion  experiences 
29 

San  Francisco — Arr.  "Brooklyn"  party  4,  38-41 

San  Jose,  Colonia — Sonora  settlement  272 

San  Pedro  Valley — Battalion  march  17-18,  Standage  description  21, 
settlement  231-35 

Santa  Cruz  Vallev — Earliest  Spanish  settlement  5 

Santa  Fe— On  Battalion  route  9,  10,  12 

303 


San  Xavier — Early  mission  in  southern  Arizona  5 

Savoia  (N.  M.)— Est.  188 

Savoietta  (N.  M.)— Est.  188 

Scanlon's  Ferry — View  133 

Schools— Gila  Normal  College,  Thatcher  264-65,  photo.  245,  St.  Johns 

Academy,  St.  Johns  265,  photo.  181,  Snowflake  Academy  265,  photos. 

(old  and  new)  197,  Academy  at  Colonia  Juarez  269 
Shivwits  Indians — Whole  tribe  baptized  67,  in  council  with  Powell  and 

Hamblin  74,  photo.  117 
Showlow — Won  in  a  card  game  168,  settlement  169 
Shumway— Est.  167-68,  view  173 
Shumway,  Chas. — Salt  Lake  Pioneer  106,  leader  in  Nauvoo  exodus, 

resident  of  Shumway,  death  167-68,  photo.  188 
Simonsville — Muddy  settlement  108,  118 
Sirrine,  Geo.  W. — Brooklyn  pioneer  40,  at  San  Bernardino,  carriedjgold 

payment  46,  developed  coal  47,  at  founding  of  Mesa  212,  Church 

officer  220,  photo.  213 
Skinner,  G.  W.— Gila  River  pioneer  147,  246 
Smallpox — Brought  to  L.  Colorado  152 
Smith,  Lt.  A.  J. — Battalion  officer  11-12,  15,  army  record  32 
Smith,  Azariah — Gold  discoverer  44,  photo.  20 
Smith,  Geo.  A. — Account  of  Tuba's  visit  81,  in  Arizona  106,  on  the 

Muddy  120 
Smith,  Geo.  A.  Jr.— Killed  by  Navajos  66,  photo.  292 
Smith,  J.  E.— With  Hamblin  to  Navajo  84 
Smith,  Jedediah — Early  trapper  54 
Smith,  Jesse  N. — Location  at  Snowflake  165,  President  of  Eastern 

Arizona  and  Snowflake  Stakes  196,  railroad  contracts  192-4,  photo. 

196 
Smith,  Joseph — Assassination  of  19,  photo.  61 
Smith,  Joseph  F.— At  St.  David  236,  photo.  61 
Smith,  Lot — BattaUon  member  25,  37,  remained  in  California  27,  head 

of  Sunset  party  138,  killed  by  Indians  159-60,  President  of  L.  Colorado 

Stake  195,  photos.  21,  196 
Smith,  Samuel  F. — President  Snowflake  Stake  196,  photo.  196 
Smith,  Thos.  S. — In  charge  of  first  Muddy  migration  118 
Smithville— Est.  244-45 

Smoot,  W.  C.  A.— Salt  Lake  and  Las  Vegas  Pioneer  105-06 
Snow,  Erastus— Visited  Arizona  settlements  87,  106,  175,  199,  209,  220, 

236,  244,  named  Fredonia  99,  conference  with  Paiutes  108-09,  pro- 
moted cotton  factory  at  St.  George  120,  selected  site  of  Snowflake 

164,  photo.  164 
Snow,  Erastus  B. — Description  of  ice  bridge  at  Lee's  Ferry  95 
Snow,  LeRoi  C. — Assistance  in  this  work  iii 
Snow,  Lorenzo — Reference  to  Brannan  42-3,  founded  United  Order  at 

Brigham  City,  Utah,  130-31,  photo.  61 
Snowflake — Cooperative    store    134,    est.,  naming,    early   experiences 

164-65,  photos,  of  Academy  197 
Snowflake  Stake— Est.  196 
Solomon,  I.  E.— In  Gila  Valley  242-44,  253 
Solomon,  W.  H.— Clerk  of  1874  Blythe  exp.  137 
Southeastern  Arizona — Map  243 
Spaneshanks — Navajo  Chief  72 
Spanish  Trail— Route  of  53-54,  map  51,  use  of  eastern  end  140 

304 


Springerville— Est.  184-85 

Standage,  Henry — Journal  of  Battalion  march  20-21,  36,  Battalion 
experiences  37,  settler  at  Alma  218,  photo.  28 

Stanislaus  City — Early  California  colony  41 

Stanton  Expedition — Down  Colorado  r.  94 

Steele,  Geo. — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 

Steele,  John — Battalion  member  37,  in  Arizona  106,  photo.  29 

Stephens,  Alexander — Gold  discoverer  44 

Stewart,  Isaac  J. — Photo.  205 

Stewart,  Jas.  Z. — In  southern  Arizona  197-201,  photos.  205 

Stewart,  Levi — At  Moccasin  Springs  97 

Stoneman,  Lt.  Geo. — BattaUon  quartermaster  12,  recognition  of  service 
15,  record  of  32-3 

Stone's  Ferry— On  Colorado  r.  97,  203 

St.  David— Est.  235 

St.  George — Cotton  factory  120,  claimed  by  Arizona  124 

St.  Johns — Made  county  seat  of  Apache  Co.  165,  est.  177,  Barth 
ownership  178,  sold  to  Mormons  179,  townsite  est.,  first  newspaper 
180,  street  battle,  killing  of  Nathan  C.  Tenney  180-81,  land  title 
dispute  181,  irrigation  difficulties  182,  state  aids  dam  construction 
182,  grasshopper  plague  191,  photo,  first  school  180,  photo.  Stake 
Academy  181,  early  view  181 

St.  Johns  Stake— Est.  196 

St.  Joseph  (Nev.) — Mormon  settlement  118,  damaged  by  fire  119 

St.  Joseph  (Ariz.) — Formerly  Allen's  Camp,  naming,  est.  140,  view  of 
dam  141,  photo,  of  pioneer  group  173 

St.  Joseph  Stake— Creation  260-61,  263 

St.  Thomas  (Nev.)— Est.  118,  123 

Summary  of  Subjects — v-ix 

Sunset— Est.  138,  140,  142,  145,  abandonment  142-43 

Sutter's  FortH- Gold  disc.  5,  Batt.  members  at  28,  43 


Taylor — On  L.  Colorado,  est.,  abandoned  148 

Taylor— On  Silver  Creek,  est.  166-67 

Taylor,  President  John — Introduction  to  Tyler's  Battalion  history  19, 

directed  est.  of  Arizona  Stakes  195,  visited  Arizona  237,  death  238, 

Mexican  trip  267,  photo.  61 
Teeples,  Wm.  R.— Photo.  260,  photo,  of  home  244 
Teeples,  Mrs.  W.  R. — Frontier  experiences  252,  photo.  261 
Telegraph — First  in  Arizona  98-99 
Tempe — Johnson  party  arr.,  removal  to  Nephi  219 
Temple — Arizona,  at  Mesa,  other  Temples  of  the  Church  222,  photo. 

228 
Tenney,  Ammon  M. — First  visit  to  Hopi  63,  fight  with  Navajos  71,  in 

Powell  party  76,  account  of  great  council  with  Indians  76-77,  with 

Hamblin  to  Oraibi  86,  at  Las  Vegas  108,  on  site  of  Woodruff  161, 

purchase  of  St.  Johns  179,  at  Zuni  189,  railroad  contracts  192,  with 

first  Jones  exp.  197-99,  photo.  69 
Tenney,  Nathan  C. — Fight  with  Navajos  71,  killed  at  St.  Johns  181, 

photo.  293 
Terry,  George — In  second  Mexican  exp.  199,  photo.  205 
Thatcher,  Moses — In  Mexico  266 


305 


Thatcher— Est.  249,  262,  photo,  normal  college  245 

Thomas,  Camp — In  Gila  Valley  251 

Thompson,  Samuel — Battalion  member  37,  photo.  28 

Thurston,  Frank — Killed  by  Apaches  254 

To-ish-obe— Paiute  Chief  108 

Tombstone — Mining  history  238-40 

Tonto  Basin — Settlement  173-74,  abandonment  authorized  176 

Tragedies  of  the  Frontier — List  of  Latter-day  Saints  killed  by  Indians 

or  outlaws  291-92 
Trejo,  M.  G. — Spanish  missionary  197-201,  photo.  205 
Trueworthy,  Thos.  E. — Early  Colorado  r.  pilot  111-12,  steamboat  trip 

up  Colorado  r.  115 
Trumbull,  Mount — Indian  council  74,  sawmill  to  Arizona  155 
Tuba — Oraibi  chief,  with  Hamblin  to  Utah  80,  shows  sacred  stone 

81,  82,  returns  to  Oraibi  87,  at  Tuba  City  159 
Tuba  City— Est.  158,  woolen  factory  159,  killing  of  Lot  Smith  159-60, 

sold  to  government  161 
Tubac — Map  37,  Mormon  colony  5-6,  56-7,  visited  by  second  Mexican 

exp.  199 
Tucson — Settlement  5,  taking  of  by  Battalion  10,  Standage  reference  21 
Tumacacori — Est.  of  mission  5 
Tyler,  Daniel— Battalion  history  18-19,  28 
Tyler,  Frank  N.— Photo.  260 

U 

Udall,  D.  K.— Arr.  at  St.  Johns  179-80,  President  St.  Johns  Stake  196, 

photo,  first  home  180,  photo.  196 
United  Order — Est.  in  Muddy  settlements  119,  development  130-34, 

not  a  general  Church  movement  132,  in  Lehi  133,  on  L.  Colorado  r. 

144-46^  at  Woodruff  162 
Utah — Creation  of  Territory  52,  seeks  land  north  of  Colorado  r.  100 
Utah,  Camp — See  Lehi 
Utahville — ^ee  Lehi 
Ute  Ford — See  Crossing  of  the  Fathers 


Vado  de  los  Padres — See  Crossing  of  the  Fathers 

Virden— Est.  250 

Virgin  River — Settlements  on  6,  117,  129 

W 

Wallapai  Indians — Visited  Muddy  Valley  110 

Walnut  Grove— Settled  184 

Walpi — Hopi  village,  view  108 

Weaver,  Pauline — Principal  guide  to  Battalion,  gold  discoveries,  death 

34 
Wells,  Daniel  H. — Visited  Arizona  settlements  86-87,  on  L.  Colorado 

r.  141,  photo.  204 
Welsh — Legend  of  the  Hopi  63-65 
West  Point— Muddy  settlement  101,  118 
Wham  robbery — Near  Gila  settlements  255 

306 


■^^Tiipple — Expedition  104 

Whitmore,  Dr.  Jas.  M. — At  founding  of  Callville,  killed  by  Indians  72, 

at  Pipe  Springs  98,  with  Anson  Call  on  Colorado  r.  114,  photo.  292 
Wilford — Mountain  settlement  155 
Winsor,  A.  P.— At  Pipe  Springs  98 
Winsor  Castle — Pipe  Springs  98,  photo.  100 
Woodruff— Est.  161,  irrigation  162,  view  141 
Woodruff,  Wilford — In  Arizona  106,  in  northeastern  Arizona  162-3, 

photo.  61 
Woods,  J.  A. — Early  teacher  146 
Woolen  Factory— At  Tuba  City  159,  photo.  149 
Wright  Brothers— Killed  by  Apaches  254,  photos.  292 
Wyoming — First  Mormon  settlement  5 


Yerba  Buena — Early  Spanish  name  of  San  Francisco  38 

Young,  Brigham — Arr.  Salt  Lake  4,  authorized  "Brooklyn"  exp.  38, 
extended  Church  influence  southward,  San  Bernardino  colonization 
44-5,  conception  of  Deseret,  first  governor  of  Deseret  52,  photo.  61, 
sent  party  to  investigate  Welsh  legend  63,  sent  Hamblin  to  Indians  65, 
death  87,  ordained  Hamblin  as  Apostle  to  the  Lamanites  87,  bought 
Whitmore  estate  98,  detailed  missionaries  to  Las  Vegas  105,  visit  in 
1870  to  Muddy  section  and  Paria  120,  directed  first  L.  Colorado  exp. 
135,  order  for  Blythe  1874  exp.  137,  photo,  with  party  116,  received 
report  of  Jones  party  199,  directed  exploration  of  Sonora  200,  plans 
for  Mexican  settlement  201-203,  Arizona  Temple  idea  223 

Young,  John  R. — Sent  to  rescue  missionaries  86 

Young,  John  W. — Led  party  of  southern  settlers  95,  at  Holbrook  133-34, 
directed  occupation  of  LeRoux  Spring  152,  Tuba  City  woolen  factory 
159,  railroad  contracts  192 

Young,  John  Wm. — At  Hopi  65 

Young,  Joseph  W. — Estimate  of  Paiutes  109 

Yuma  Indians — Colorado  r.  deck  hands  112 


Zodiac — Settlement  in  Texas  58 
Zuni  Indians — Welsh  legend  64-65 


307 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stain[>eci  below. 


^^i^z'ym 


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LD  URL      '"^^ 


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I^PR  0  6  1987 


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